CBS star Matt Gutman's checkered past revealed after Tony Dokoupil's hunky stand-in was slapped with sexual harassment allegations

CBS News' chief reporter's checkered history as a broadcaster is coming back into view after he was hit with a sexual harassment lawsuit from a former colleague.

Matt Gutman, 48, was praised for his 'fearlessness, energy and relentlessness' when he was brought on by the network's editor-in-chief, Bari Weiss, back in December, as one of her first announcements as boss.

The move marked an end to Gutman's 17 years with ABC News and a seven-year stint as its chief national correspondent.

At the time, multiple sources told the Daily Mail that Gutman was widely known within the industry for making mistakes.

In 2020, for instance, he was forced to apologize for a false report that all four of the late Kobe Bryant's children died with the star athlete in a Calabasas helicopter crash, when only his daughter passed away.

Gutman's first ABC News suspension followed, for one month.

An ABC spokesperson said at the time: 'Reporting the facts accurately is the cornerstone of our journalism... Matt Gutman’s initial reporting was not accurate and failed to meet our editorial standards.'

Gutman publicly apologized on-air and later said the error occurred during a panic attack, a struggle he detailed in his 2023 book about anxiety. 

'Today I inaccurately reported it was believed that four of Kobe Bryant’s children were on board that flight. That is incorrect. I apologize to Kobe’s family, friends and our viewers,' he wrote on X as well. 

Gutman's second suspension came when he found himself in hot water in February 2021 for flouting Disney's COVID-19 policies by visiting a Los Angeles hospital without ABC News execs' permission to vet a story.

The exact duration of the suspension was never disclosed. ABC News did not issue a statement.  

More recently, before he left for CBS, he faced criticism for describing text messages between alleged Charlie Kirk assassin Tyler Robinson and his transgender roommate as 'very touching in a way we did not expect.'

After a furious social-media reaction, Gutman apologized, writing on X: 'I deeply regret that my words did not make that clear.'

He was hired by CBS News within three months, though sources told the Mail ABC let him go without much of a fight at the time.

'Matt's contract was already up,' they said, explaining that executives at ABC were fully aware of an offer made to Gutman but did not try to counter it.

The revelation came in marked contrast to reports of Weiss relentlessly pursuing top talent from other networks for her still-ongoing CBS News revamp.

The right-leaning Free Press founder was appointed by then-new Paramount CEO David Ellison in October, following an $8 billion acquisition the summer before. 

The effort, instead of yielding a big name like Bret Baier or Anderson Cooper, ended up showing Weiss's inexperience, another insider told the Daily Mail at the time. 

'Bari seems to be scraping the depths of her rolodex with her recent hire of Gutman, whom ABC exiled after his despicable comments in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk and who erroneously reported misinformation on Kobe Bryant's children during a tragedy. That's what he's best known for,' the source said. 

Weiss also ended up promoting Tony Dokoupil from CBS Mornings to CBS Evening News, when an effort to hire externally failed, Status first reported.

Gutman recently stood in for a struggling Dokoupil while the latter took two weeks off for the summer. The show enjoyed a brief ratings spike.

Last Friday, Gutman was named as a defendant in a wrongful termination suit filed on Friday in Los Angeles Superior Court by former ABC News field producer Samira Said. Disney, ABC's parent company, and the network are also listed as defendants.

Said claimed she was placed on a male-only team that included Gutman during an assignment, where Gutman 'initiated a discussion rating a female correspondent's appearance.'

He proceeded to 'reduce her professional standing to a numerical score based on her physical attributes' as other male members of the crew joined in, Said said.

The men allegedly 'attempted' to involve Said in the conversation, to which she declined on the basis that it was 'inappropriate,' according to the suit.

Gutman is also accused of making a 'sexualized insinuation' towards her on a separate occasion, where he asked her if she had an 'after-hours date' when she wanted to leave a movie press event.

Said said that Gutman made the remark 'audibly to others' and 'demeaned' her and 'reduced her professional judgement to a sexualized stereotype.' 

The suit also claimed that when Said returned from a medical leave, which lasted from August 2022 to January 2023, ABC denied her reasonable accommodation requests.

ABC News' LA bureau chief, David Herndon, also 'made it clear that unless she returned without restrictions and with full-week availability, she would not be permitted to resume her role,' according to the lawsuit. 

Said was subsequently 'demoted' to weekend desk shifts in March 2023 and was fired in March 2025 after she 'sustained a workplace injury when heavy equipment struck her foot, resulting in a bone contusion' while covering 'hazardous weather-related events.'

Said is seeking monetary damages and alleging discrimination based on 'gender/sex; ancestry; and/or disability,' hostile work environment harassment, retaliation for engaging in a protected activity, and failure to provide reasonable accommodation.

The Daily Mail approached ABC News for comment.