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Patrica Heaton‘s husband is being accused of inappropriate behavior on the CBS sitcom Carol’s Second Act.
David Hunt, who is an executive producer on the television series (which his wife stars in), is being accused of inappropriately touching a 25-year-old female writer, The New York Times reports.
According to the publication, a female writer on the show made a formal complaint against the 65-year-old executive producer and alleged that he touched her inappropriately on two occasions.
She alleges that Hunt hugged her twice from the side and then ran his hand up the side of her thigh while complimenting her pants, the outlet claimed in its story. Moreover, the writer also alleged the second incident occurred when Hunt was walking around the set and looking for something, when he allegedly took her “by the shoulders and jerked her forward.”
According to the NYT, the second incident was seen by co-executive producer and writer, Margee Magee. The 25-year-old reportedly told Magee about her first encounter with Hunt, and they relayed this information to the showrunners. The publication reports the writer wanted for Hunt to be educated on harassment, and didn’t want him taken off the sitcom. Hunt reportedly completed harassment training on Oct. 1.
The two women reportedly quit the show after they felt both of their jobs were being cut back after making a formal complaint about Hunt, the publication shared.
Of the accusations made about Hunt, CBS shared a statement with E! News.
“A claim of unprofessional behavior was made by a writer regarding one of the show’s executive producers. The complaint was reported by a producer to the showrunners, who immediately alerted the production company and the Studio,” the message read. “The matter was promptly investigated by human resources, and appropriate action was taken to address the complaint. The executive producer cooperated fully with the process.”
“In addition, we looked into allegations of retaliatory conduct by the showrunners at the time they were raised, and we found no evidence of retaliatory intent in their interactions with the writer or the producer,” the statement continued. “In particular, their decisions about the writers’ procedure during rehearsals and tapings were creatively motivated to streamline their production process and were already being discussed prior to the complaint.”
CBS also stated that “certain allegations about them have either been misstated or taken wholly out of context.”
According to the network, “the writer and producer decided to leave the show of their own accord.”
“CBS agreed to their request to be paid for the remainder of their guaranteed episodes this season, and we supported their request to waive any contractual provisions that would prevent them from speaking about their experiences on the show,” the network stated.
E! News has reached out to both Patricia and David’s team for comment. Additionally, E! has reached out to the 25-year-old writer for comment.
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