Disney-ABC Tried Mediation With Alleged Sexual-Assault Victims

Walt Disney Co. and its ABC unit held unsuccessful mediation talks in June with the two women who have alleged they were sexually assaulted by a former ABC News executive, reports The Wall Street Journal citing people with knowledge of the matter.

The claims against the executive, former “Good Morning America” producer Michael Corn, surfaced last week in a lawsuit filed by one of the women, ABC News producer Kirstyn Crawford. Corn has denied wrongdoing and called the allegations fabrications.

Michael Corn

The suit also named ABC as a defendant, alleging that the network had received complaints about Mr. Corn’s conduct from several women over roughly a decade but failed to take disciplinary action.

The mediation talks came after Disney concluded an investigation into the women’s allegations against Corn.  He was pushed out by ABC News in April. When Corn left the company after a nearly two-decade tenure, neither he nor ABC gave a reason for his departure.

ABC News said in a statement last week that it “disputes the claims made against it and will address this matter in court.”

In the lawsuit, filed Aug. 25 in New York state court, Crawford accused Corn of sexually assaulting her on a reporting trip in 2015 in Los Angeles. The incidents took place in an Uber ride after a party and later at their hotel, she alleged.

Corn has cited collegial emails from Crawford, sent the day after the alleged incident, and friendly interactions with Ms. McClain, as proof that he didn’t assault either woman. “These are not the words and actions of a woman who had been assaulted,” Corn said in the statement in reference to both women.