By Daily Mail (U.S.) | Created at 2026-08-15 04:51:10 | Updated at 2026-08-15 05:14:27
28 minutes ago
CBS News Chief Correspondent Matt Gutman has been accused of sexual harassment in a bombshell lawsuit filed by a former colleague.
The 48-year-old, who it was revealed this week had caused ratings to surge for the beleaguered network, is alleged to have made a series of inappropriate remarks to former ABC News journalist Samira Said.
Said included the allegations in a wrongful termination suit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against her former employer and Disney, its parent company.
The Daily Mail has viewed the lawsuit, citing two alleged incidents, filed by the former field producer in which Gutman is also named as a defendant.
Said claimed in her suit that she was placed on a male-only team including Gutman, with the crew having to wait in a public queue together during an assignment.
According to Said, it was then that Gutman 'initiated a discussion rating a female correspondent's appearance.'
The suit said that he went on to 'reduce her professional standing to a numerical score based on her physical attributes,' to which the male members of the crew joined in.
According to the filing, the men 'attempted' to involve Said in the conversation, which she declined and told them it was inappropriate.
The 48-year-old is alleged to have made a series of inappropriate remarks to former ABC News Journalist Samira Said
Said included the allegations in a wrongful termination suit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court against her former employer and Disney, its parent company
On a separate occasion relating to the release of a movie, Gutman is accused of making a 'sexualized insinuation' towards her.
According to Said, she and Gutman had a disagreement about leaving the area when he questioned if she had an 'after-hours date in the city' as being the reason for wanting to leave.
Said claimed that Gutman made the remark 'audibly to others' which she said 'demeaned' her and 'reduced her professional judgement to a sexualized stereotype.'
Gutman worked with ABC News for nearly two decades, mainly in California, before leaving to join CBS earlier this year under new Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss.
It emerged this week that as a stand-in for anchor Tony Dokoupil, who is on vacation, the show marked its most watched month since March.
Gutman promptly managed 4.1 million viewers, 300,000 more than Dokoupil's average for July.
The development puts pressure on Dokoupil, who has not passed the four million marker since March.
In the other parts of Said's suit she also claimed that she was wrongfully terminated from ABC in 2025 while dealing with mental health issues.
Gutman worked with ABC News for nearly two decades, mainly in California, before leaving to join CBS earlier this year
The lawsuit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as her attorney fees
The suit directly accused the company of violating California's Fair Employment and Housing Act by not accommodating her.
She was assigned to cover the 2022 shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, where she interviewed child survivors who witnessed the massacre even though she was experiencing COVID-19 symptoms, the suit said.
After returning, she said she needed to take a short period of leave that was knocked back despite suffering 'severe psychological symptoms,' the suit said.
According to the suit, a psychiatrist later approved a medical leave, but after it started Said was still being given assignment requests.
She was cleared to return to work in January of 2023 subject to 'reasonable accommodations' to prevent her from 'trauma triggers,' the suit said.
Said claimed that the HR department at ABC worked for months to 'pressure' her to drop these accommodations, and in September of that year she said she suffered a mental health crisis and was off work for several months.
In January of last year, she worked on the Los Angeles wildfires, which she said 'ignored' her accommodation requests.
The suit added: 'Defendants made this assignment with knowledge of Said’s disability and without any accommodations in place.
The lawsuit is seeking compensatory and punitive damages as well as her attorney fees.
The Daily Mail approached CBS for comment.
