Report: Vice Paid at Least Four Sexual Misconduct Settlements

Vice has paid at least four settlements involving sexual harassment or defamation against employees, The New York Times reports. One of the settlements reportedly involved the media company’s current president, Andrew Creighton, who is said to have paid a former employee $135,000 after she claimed she’d been fired for rejecting his advances. In addition, more than two dozen other women said they had experienced or witnessed sexual misconduct ranging from lewd remarks to unwanted kissing and groping, echoing allegations of rampant sexual harassment made by current and former employees to The Daily Beast last month. Shane Smith, the co-founder and chief executive of Vice, conceded in a statement to the Times that “from the top down, we have failed as a company to create a safe and inclusive workplace where everyone, especially women, can feel respected and thrive.” Smith said a “boys club” at the company had “fostered inappropriate behavior that permeated throughout the company.” The company, one of many rocked by sexual misconduct scandals in the wake of the #MeToo movement, has reportedly fired at least three employees for inappropriate behavior.