By Peter Sblendorio
New York Daily News
WWR Article Summary (tl;dr) Julie Chen (Moonves) generally identifies as Julie Chen on her TV shows. But that was not the case upon her return to “Big Brother” Thursday night as she signed out as “Julie Chen Moonves.”
New York Daily News
Julie Chen garnered a wave of criticism for the way she seemed to support her husband, Les Moonves, following his exit from CBS amid a sexual misconduct scandal.
Making her first TV appearance since Moonves resigned as CEO of CBS Corp., Chen signed off of “Big Brother” in a way she normally doesn’t, by using her husband’s last name.
“From outside the ‘Big Brother’ house, I’m Julie Chen Moonves,” she said. “Good night.”
The broadcaster generally only identifies as Julie Chen on her TV shows, including on “Big Brother,” which airs on CBS.
She did not otherwise address the misconduct allegations against her husband or his recent exit from the network, but social media users believed her name change on Thursday’s signoff said enough.
“That was so messy and insulting to his victims, go and stay gone Julie,” wrote one Twitter user named Alex.
Another user named Rob said he was appalled by Chen’s remark.
‘Just so you know, my stomach dropped faster than the Tower of Terror when Julie said “I’m Julie Chen Moonves, good night.” and I’m sure that clip will be played ad nauseam and I can only imagine how his victims will feel to see that,” he tweeted. “How disgusting and how sad.”
Others, meanwhile, called for Chen to be removed by the network.
“Please fire Julie Chen … ..MOONVES,” tweeted a user named Roxanne Donaghy. “She just disrespected all the women that her husband abused. Supporting your husband is one thing, but being so blatant about it is just wrong.”
Chen, 48, and Moonves, 68, have been married since 2004.
Moonves resigned from CBS on Sunday amid an outside investigation by a pair of law firms into the allegations against him.
Six women initially came forward with claims of misconduct against Moonves in a report by The New Yorker, including four who accused him of forcible kissing or touching.
It was later revealed that another woman, who is not believed to be one of those six accusers, filed a sexual abuse case to authorities in February that accused Moonves of three offenses in the 1980s. Los Angeles prosecutors declined to pursue the case, they said, because the statute of limitations had expired.
Six more women came forward with allegations in a second report by The New Yorker this past weekend, including two who accused Moonves of forcing or coercing them into engaging in oral sex with him. Moonves resigned shortly after that report was published.
Moonves has denied the allegations against him.
Chen, who has not appeared on her talk show “The View” since her husband’s resignation, supported Moonves with a statement July after the initial accusations emerged.
“He has always been a kind, decent and moral human being,” Chen wrote in a post to Twitter at the time. “I fully support my husband and stand behind him and his statement.”
