Twelve former employees of gossip publications owned by American Media Inc., including National Enquirer and Us Weekly, described to The Associated Press inappropriate sexual remarks made by top editor Dylan Howard. The employees claim Howard "openly described his sexual partners in the newsroom, discussed female employees' sex lives, and forced women to watch or listen to pornographic material," AP writes.
Howard reportedly gave himself the nickname "Dildo" and made inappropriate comments in the office, such as telling colleagues that "he wanted to create a Facebook account on behalf of [another employee's] vagina," AP writes. Another editor said Howard "encouraged her to have sex with people for information," and Howard allegedly forced female employees to listen to or watch celebrity sex recordings despite it having no "professional rationale."
Howard stopped working out of American Media's Los Angeles office after his conduct became the topic of review by an outside consultant in 2012. He was later rehired and promoted within a year to the company's office in New York City. He called the claims about his behavior "baseless" to AP.
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In a statement, a lawyer for American Media said that the investigation into Howard in 2012 "determined that there was some what you would call as horsing around outside the office, going to bars and things that are not uncommon in the media business, but none of it rose to the level of harassment that would require termination." Read the full investigation at AP.
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