If this is one of your favorite TV shows you will be saddened by this news. I know I was. 

We were already traumatized when Aaron Hotchner (Thomas Gibson), the fierce leader of the BAU (Behavioral Analysis Unit) was asked to leave the show after 11 seasons in 2016. Not for sexual harassment, but for alleged anger management issues. Yes, he did play a grumpy, never smiling, strict rule adhering boss—which must have been very stressful. What we did not know is that he had a few physical incidents, kicking a writer and previously pushing a producer after disagreements. 

This past Wednesday, a lawsuit was filed by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing in Los Angeles against CBS and Disney claiming that these networks covered up sexual harassment against more than a dozen male crew members on the set going back 14 years. 



According to the lawsuit, a long term cinematographer, Gregory St. Johns, abused his position and touched multiple men on their private parts and “kissed or caressed their necks, shoulders and ears” in a manner that was “rampant, frequent and in the open.” 

The suit alleges further that “the executive production team knew of and condoned the unlawful conduct” and dismissed more than a dozen men who complained about the harassment. Apparently management did not conduct sexual harassment training or take other corrective action and instead allowed the behavior to continue for years, and years, fostering a hostile work environment. Several members of the production team have been named as defendants in the suit. 

St. Johns was dismissed from the show in 2018 only after Variety published an article on his behavior potentially causing damage to the show.  Sources say that St. James received an “enhanced severance”. 

Disney claims it took corrective action and cooperated with the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing during its investigation and regrets not reaching an amicable resolution. Disney intends to vigorously defend the claims. To date there has been no comment from CBS. St. James, ABC Studios (a division of Disney), CBS, Warner Bros, and Entertainment Partner Enterprises are already facing a lawsuit filed in mid 2019, by a 2nd assistant cameraman from the set of Criminal Minds. 

Interesting that the production team dealt with what they believed to be disrespectful behavior by Thomas Gibson (Aaron Hotchner) in a swift manner, including requiring him to take anger management training, yet, it took them 14 years to deal with a sexual predator—and only after they were ‘outed’ by Variety . Sexual harassment is not just disrespectful, it is a crime, whether perpetrated against a woman or a man. 

#TimesUp. We must #changetheculture to a work and social environment free of #sexualharassment and #abuse. Join us for further discussion at www.thesandboxseries.com and check out our book ‘Play Nice - Playground Rules for Respect in the Workplace’ .