By Andrew Dalton, Entertainment Writer
LOS ANGELES (AP) --The state of California filed a lawsuit Tuesday against CBS, Disney and producers of the long-running series "Criminal Minds," alleging that the show's cinematographer engaged in rampant sexual misconduct against crew members for years.
The suit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court by the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing says the show's production team knew of and condoned the behavior of cinematographer Gregory St. Johns throughout the 14 years he spent on "Criminal Minds," and fired more than a dozen men who resisted his unwanted groping and sexual harassment.
"With the aid of defendants, St. Johns created an unchecked intimidating, hostile, and offensive work environment on the set of Criminal Minds," the lawsuit alleges.
The popular crime procedural, which ran on CBS from 2005 until earlier this year, was co-produced by CBS and the Disney-owned ABC Signature Studios.
Those three entities along with production company Entertainment Partners, several of the show's producers and St. Johns himself are named as defendants in the suit, which seeks back pay and other damages for the crew members who were fired.
ABC Signature Studios said it intends to vigorously defend against the claims.
"The company works hard to maintain a work environment free from discrimination, harassment, or retaliation," the studio said in a statement late Tuesday.
Emails sent to representatives for the other defendants were not immediately returned.
The state agency began an investigation in March 2019 and found that St. Johns had engaged in a pattern of unwanted sexual touching including the groping of men's genitals and buttocks and kisses and caresses on their necks and shoulders. "St. Johns' conduct was rampant, frequent, and in the open," the suit states.
He unfairly criticized, socially ostracized and publicly shamed those who resisted him, the suit alleges, and executives overseeing the show routinely approved of the retaliatory firings he recommended.
Complaints to human resources did not result in meaningful discipline against St. Johns, and investigations by the corporate defendants were toothless and designed to hide the misconduct, the suit says.
ABC Signature Studios disagrees.
"The company took corrective action," the ABC statement said. "We cooperated with the Department of Fair Employment and Housing during its investigation, and we regret that we were unable to reach a reasonable resolution."
St. Johns was fired in 2018 after a story in Variety that detailed complaints from crew members.
South Korea fines Meta $15 million for illegally collecting information on Facebook users
South Korea's privacy watchdog on Tuesday fined social media company Meta 21.6 billion won ($15 million) for illegally collecting sensitive personal information from Facebook users, including data about their political views and sexual orientation, and sharing it with thousands of advertisers.
It was the latest in a series of penalties against Meta by South Korean authorities in recent years as they increase their scrutiny of how the company, which also owns Instagram and WhatsApp, handles private information.
Following a four-year investigation, South Korea's Personal Information Protection Commission concluded that Meta unlawfully collected sensitive information about around 980,000 Facebook users, including their religion, political views and whether they were in same-sex unions, from July 2018 to March 2022.
It said the company shared the data with around 4,000 advertisers.
South Korea's privacy law provides strict protection for information related to personal beliefs, political views and sexual behavior, and bars companies from processing or using such data without the specific consent of the person involved.
The commission said Meta amassed sensitive information by analyzing the pages the Facebook users liked or the advertisements they clicked on.
The company categorized ads to identify users interested in themes such as specific religions, same-sex and transgender issues, and issues related to North Korean escapees, said Lee Eun Jung, a director at the commission who led the investigation on Meta.
"While Meta collected this sensitive information and used it for individualized services, they made only vague mentions of this use in their data policy and did not obtain specific consent," Lee said.
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