NBC News Terminates Mark Halperin's Contract

Mark Halperin

NBC News this morning confirmed to Deadline-Hollywood it has terminated Mark Halperin’s contract.

Halperin had joined NBC News in 2010 as a senior political analyst. News comes days after CNN first reported claims of five women, who spoke on condition of anonymity,  that veteran journalist Halperin had sexually harassed them when he was working for ABC News.

He had been suspended from NBC News since that late Wednesday report.

Late Friday, suspended pundit Mark Halperin has issued an apology do-over after being ditched by his publisher and HBO, in which he acknowledged at greater length his “aggressive and crude” behavior towards women while at ABC News.

But, insisted Halperin, who joined MSNBC as senior political analyst in 2010 after working for Time and Bloomberg, he has had a “very different reputation than I had at ABC News because I conducted myself in a very different manner” – the result of “several years” of “weekly counseling sessions to work on understanding the personal issues and attitudes that caused me to behave in such an inappropriate manner.”

CNN first reported on Wednesday night about the allegations of sexual harassment and assault against Halperin. Since then, more women have come forward, bringing the total number of accusers to at least one dozen.

ABC News is reporting the accusations from the women include that Halperin, while he was clothed, placed his erect penis on the bodies of women without consent; that he masturbated in front of an ABC News employee in his office, and that he threw another woman against a restaurant window before attempting to kiss her. The alleged incidents occurred while Halperin was in a position of significant authority at ABC News, while the women were young and had little power.

Halperin has denied pressing his genitals against the women, masturbating in front of anyone, physically assaulting anyone or threatening anyone. In a lengthy statement he released Friday, Halperin said he was "profoundly sorry for the pain and anguish" he caused with what he called "outrageous conduct at ABC News," and said he felt "profound guilt."

"I fully acknowledge and apologize for conduct that was often aggressive and crude," Halperin said.