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Last week, actress Eliza Dushku testified before the House Judiciary Committee that she was subjected to sexual harassment on the set of CBS’s ‘Bull,’ and that after reporting it, she was sacked from the show and made to sign a non-disclosure agreement.
Dushku testified that when she was cast as a co-lead in Bull, she was told “that the role would be a six-year commitment to play a smart, strong leading lady, a confident high-powered lawyer meant to counterbalance the existing male lead, and that the role had been written specifically with me in mind. However, in my first week on my new job I found myself the brunt of crude, sexualized, and lewd verbal assaults,” she continued. “I suffered near constant sexual harassment from my co-star. This was beyond anything I had experienced in my 30-year career.”
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 pic.twitter.com/ZhgoLrYVnX
— House Judiciary Dems (@HouseJudiciary) November 16, 2021
Dushku added that he “would frequently refer to me as ‘legs,’ would smell me, and leeringly look me up and down.” She then recollected another incident when “in front of about 100 crew members and cast members, he once said that he would take me to his rape van and use lube and long phallic things on me, and take me over his knee and spank me like a little girl,” she stated. “Another time he told me that his sperm were powerful swimmers.”
While Dushku didn’t name the co-star that she claims sexually harassed her, she did add that he “was also one of the show’s producers,” implicating her Bull co-star Michael Weatherly.
Here is her full testimony.
Dushku states in her testimony that her co-star’s behavior on set, in front of everyone, “established the tone” in the workplace, which she believes encouraged other staff members to make sexualized comments to her, telling the committee that “a random male crew member” approached her while she was on her coffee break between scenes and whispered, “I’m with Bull, I want to have a threesome with you too, Eliza.”
Weatherly portrays the role Jason Bull in the show. Dushku claims that after speaking with her co-star and requesting that he “tone down” his remarks, he texted CBS Studios’ president, and she was dismissed the next day. The actress added that Dushku also claimed she was silenced by the arbitration clause in her contract.
“I was shocked to learn that I had signed away my rights to a public forum before taking a job,” she added. “Who would ever think up such a clause? Who were these clauses meant to favor and protect? It suddenly became clear: not me.”
Dushku then revealed her surprise to “learn that I had signed away my rights to a public forum before taking a job. Who would ever think up such a clause? Who were these clauses meant to favor and protect? It suddenly became clear: not me.”
While disappointing, sadly it’s not surprising, as Hollywood is very well-known for its culture of sexual and workplace harassment issues.
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