The Tavis Smiley, PBS Dust-Up Could Get Nasty

Tavis Smiley took to Tucker Carlson’s show Monday to warn PBS if it does not “fix this,” and he sues over network’s decision to suspend distribution of his program, “millions of taxpayer dollars are going to be spent by PBS defending itself.”

“And I don’t think taxpayers want their money spent that way,” Smiley said pointedly to Fox News Channel viewers.

According to Deadline.Hollywood, Smiley told Carlson he does not know what are the exact allegations made against him by former staffers on his show. PBS announced it has suspended distribution of his program indefinitely after looking into allegations of sexual misconduct against its host.

Carlson understandably wondered then what Smiley talked about during that three-hour meeting with PBS reps. Making the media rounds as he argued his side of the situation, Smiley has said PBS reps met with him for that length of time, only after his reps threatened to sue if they did not. That, Smiley said, after weeks of being put off by PBS when he asked to meet with them to discuss the allegations. Smiley said he contacted PBS after hearing through the grapevine about the investigation.


What did you talk about?” Carlson asked of the meeting.

“Vague questions,” Smiley explained – “Might you ever have done this?” stuff.

“They’ve done a sloppy investigation and something needs to be done to fix this,” he added.

He has acknowledged he’s had romantic relations with employees over 30 years in the business but insisted they were consensual and that he’s guilty, at worst, of bad judgement.