Months after dozens of women attended the Golden Globes sporting #TimesUp pins to call attention to Hollywood's toxic culture of sexual misconduct, E! News has confirmed that Ryan Seacrest will still be manning the red carpet at the Oscars on Sunday following reports that he sexually harassed a former personal stylist, the Cut reports.
On Monday, Suzie Hardy detailed years of working as a stylist for Seacrest with Variety, allegedly fielding unwanted advances and even groping at the hands of the host. Hardy, who worked for Seacrest from 2007 to 2013, claimed that he grabbed her vagina on the set of E! News and would rub his erection on her in his underwear when she was helping him get dressed for events, among other demeaning behavior. Shortly after Hardy reported the alleged abuse to E!'s human resources department, she was let go.
After Hardy's attorney contacted E! in November, the network's parent company, NBCUniversal, launched a third-party investigation into the alleged misconduct. This month, E! said that it had found "insufficient evidence to support the claims against Seacrest."
"Over the course of a two month process, our outside counsel interviewed more than two dozen people regarding the allegations, including multiple separate meetings with the claimant and all firsthand witnesses that she provided," the network said in a statement Monday. "Any claims that question the legitimacy of this investigation are completely baseless."
For his part, Seacrest has called the allegations "reckless" and penned an op-ed for the Hollywood Reporter saying that it was "gut-wrenching" to "have my workplace conduct questioned." After Variety's report, the television personality didn't mention the allegations on Live with Kelly and Ryan, instead chatting with his cohost Kelly Ripa about teeth whitening procedures.
Now, according to a rep from E!, the Oscar red carpet program is scheduled to go on as planned. At least for now, the network is going to send Seacrest back out to talk to celebrities, just a few weeks after he asked actresses at the Golden Globes about the importance of the #MeToo movement.
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