Mark Halperin, a veteran political journalist who has been accused by five women of sexual harassment, has been placed on leave by MSNBC.
The network made the announcement about 12 hours after these damaging allegations were made against Halperin, saying via statement:
“Mark Halperin is leaving his role as a contributor until the questions around his past conduct are fully understood.”
On Wednesday night, shortly after news of these charges went viral, Halperin confirmed in his own statement that he had not always acted appropriately with women in the past.
“During this period, I did pursue relationships with women that I worked with, including some junior to me,” he said in a statement to CNN, adding:
“I now understand from these accounts that my behavior was inappropriate and caused others pain.
“For that, I am deeply sorry and I apologize.
“Under the circumstances, I’m going to take a step back from my day-to-day work while I properly deal with this situation.”
The allegations against Halperin stem from his tenure as political director at ABC News.
While the reporter was vague about what he was owning up to, his accusers claims his propositioned them for sex… touched their breasts… and/or pressed his genitals up against them while clothed.
Halperin is maybe best known for co-authoring the bestselling book “Game Change,” which was made into an HBO movie starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin.
He has also anchored a program on Bloomberg TV and was prominently featured in Showtime’s “The Circus,” a series that chronicled the 2016 campaign cycle and the early days of the Donald Trump presidency.
Said ABC News in response to this story:
“Mark left ABC News over a decade ago, and no complaints were filed during his tenure.
These allegations come on the heels of more disturbing information also coming to light regarding Bill O’Reilly and the massive amount of money he paid to alleged sexual harassment victims in exchange for their silence.
According to a new New York Times article, O’Reilly shelled out $32 million in a settlement to one accuser alone.
Then, of course, there’s the case of Harvey Weinstein.
The long-time movie producer has now been accused by 54 women of having harassed or assaulted them.
The Times has reported on eight settlements he reached with his accusers, while various actresses and women who have worked in Hollywood have been coming forward with harrowing tales of interactions with Weinstein.
As a contributor to MSNBC, meanwhile, Halperin made regular appearances on Morning Joe and other news programs.
We doubt we see him back on that network again.