Eliza Dushku testified before the House Judiciary Committee on Tuesday about her sexual harassment allegations against former co-star Michael Weatherly and the arbitration process she claims CBS forced her to enter.It was previously reported in 2018 that CBS agreed to pay her $9.5 million after she complained that she was fired from “Bull” after a confrontation with Weatherly over what she called inappropriate behaviour.
Dushku was able to provide more detail than her non-disclosure agreement normally allows because she was testifying on Tuesday.”In 2017, CBS pursued me aggressively to become a co-lead in a show called ‘Bull.'” I was told that the role would be a six-year commitment to play a smart, strong leading lady — a competent, high-powered lawyer meant to balance out the existing male lead — and that it had been written specifically for me.
However, during my first week on the job, I was subjected to crude, sexualized, and lewd verbal assaults. “I was subjected to near-constant sexual harassment from my co-star,” she testified on tape. A CBS representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Dushku, best known for her work on “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” described some of the comments she said she overheard, including Weatherly’s references to her as “legs” and statements about his sperm. She was emphatic that these remarks were not part of the show’s script.
Weatherly issued a statement in 2018 stating that he “made some jokes mocking some lines in the script.” At the time, he apologised.
The Democrats on the committee released Dushku’s testimony on Tuesday, writing on Twitter, “WATCH: @ElizaDushku shares her personal story of the sexual harassment she faced at CBS and the secret arbitration process she was forced to enter. #EndForcedArbitration.”The actress stated in her testimony that she was only able to violate her NDA by testifying, but “countless others who are bound by arbitration are not so fortunate.”
____
Eliza Dushku | Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter @njtimesofficial. To get the latest updates
