Thread regarding ViacomCBS layoffs

For those ready to share your stories of abuse and misconduct, THE NEW YORK TIMES is ready to hear you.

You can still be anonymous or on background and The NYT has every protection you can imagine in place to protect whistleblowers.

See below from NYT reporter:

“Hi from The New York Times

Hi, Paramount employees!
My name is Ben Mullin, and I'm a reporter over at The New York Times. I cover Paramount for The Times (you can see some of my stories here!), along with competitors like Warner Bros. Discovery and NBCUniversal. I'm always looking to talk to current and former Paramount employees about the company, and I love a good story about the media and entertainment industry.
If you have an interesting story to tell, or you just want to talk about your company with someone who's interested, please do not hesitate to give me a shout. You can reach me at benjamin.mullin@nytimes.com, or shoot me a text message on Signal (the encrypted messaging app) at +1 530-961-3223.”

I would love to report my EVP’s toxic behavior to The NY Times. Thanks for the link above.

Forbes, New York Times, and other outlets are eager to hear employee stories about Chris McCarthy's hostile workplace at Paramount.

For anyone interested in talking, please know that you can speak with these journalists on background, with your identity and job title kept anonymous. There are whistleblower laws that protect us from retaliation.

https://x.com/lisettethebest/status/1831693429669069112

It's amazing how we've let this toxic circus continue unchecked for so long. Paramount once stood for creativity, innovation, and respect for its people, but under this leadership, it's become a factory of fear, manipulation, and corruption. Chris McCarthy and his enablers have turned a place that once nurtured talent into a playground for the toxic few at the top. Nepotism, gaslighting, and blatant abuse of power have not only destroyed the morale of hard-working employees but also shattered the integrity of this company.

And to those trying to discredit these voices: you are a part of the problem. You laugh, dismiss, and minimize, but you can't silence the truth. These aren’t isolated complaints; they are the desperate voices of a workforce suffocated under the weight of hypocrisy. If Paramount really values innovation, it’s time to cleanse the leadership of the parasites clinging to their titles, ensuring talent only rises if it “kisses the ring.”

As Larry Ellison prepares to acquire Paramount, it might be worth considering halting all layoffs to better understand the internal dynamics. This acquisition isn’t just about assets—it’s about ensuring that the right people are retained, and that the toxic leadership responsible for these issues is addressed. By pausing the layoffs, there’s a chance to protect the hardworking employees who keep this company running, while ensuring those who thrive on office politics don’t slip through. Taking this step could help ensure that Paramount’s culture and legacy are preserved for the long term.

PRs efforts to distract with these lash bar jokes are tragic, mostly because they’re unfunny. 13,000 views > silence.

I used to freelance for MTV and can verify how absolutely clueless they are. I made over $220K one year and upwards of $60K alone on overtime. Their idiocy was my gain!

I cannot wait to watch the 3 Amigos pack their bags once David E becomes the CEO and Chairman of Paramount Global.

I used to report to Amy Campbell. She has no idea what she is doing and is always in a state of panic over what Chris will or won’t like. I have 2AM texts to prove it.

Nothing ever gets approved either. We will go months and months in circles addressing the most ridiculous notes, WAY over budget, WAY off schedule, only to finally get to Chris, have him hate it, and we start over.

She is completely unqualified to be CMO and simply bad at her job.

I pray to get laid off from Paramount everyday but am hanging on for my severance after 17 years of service. Everything said here about McCarthy and his team is true. Intimidation, bullying, gaslighting, and nepotism is the name of the game with him. Many things have been swept under the rug for years.

Amy Campbell's team under McCarthy is currently being investigated for racism. That's not unsubstantiated. It's a fact.

Chris McCarthy’s press team and cronies can keep burying posts with nonsense here, but the + and - numbers tell you all you need to know.

But maybe if I can hang on long enough to tear a few people down maybe I will be finally selected to lead. If only they would do it my way. Same as it ever was.

To the message below. “With no proof”. What more proof do you need of nepotism than a married couple elevating each other, attending shoots in London on the company dime, with no defined roles on the shoot?

Bravo to this last post, well said.

The folks entering this chat should take a long think this weekend. Because you've ostensibly become what you're condemning here. The only difference is the targets you've chosen and the incidents you're highlighting happened TO YOUR FACE. And not in some anonymous, unhinged chat. Let's also have some empathy here people - this behavior was a fabric of this organization since the 80s - so there's a history and a top/down cascade that unfortunately changed how people had to navigate their professional life at work. No one chooses to be an a-hole just because. It's a learned behavior that trickles from the top down so if we are going to apply blame we need to look a lot deeper and further back to what brought us here versus targeting some of those simply taking orders and trying to maintain their livelihood amidst a culture they did not cultivate from the start. Current leadership is fair game - CEOs, Presidents, etc. but let's temper the attacks on everyone and these wild accusations of racism and homophobia and nepotism with no proof other than anonymous words are just vile. So step away from your computer, take a CBD gummy, and go enjoy your day.

I also liked Chris until he made me do my job. What the he-l?

I didn't work on that side and I'm in a much better position now, but it's really funny to me how the trolling comments are actually proving the other comments' points about the toxic behavior and bullying that went on. Talk about lack of self awareness. Only bullies would miss how that comes off to everyone else.

I don’t love Mac or anything but as far as anyone I know can tell, these posts could all be the work of just 1 bored person (yes even the pro Mac ones). That’s the joy of anonymous posts and why they don’t amount to anything.

Absolutely dying laughing at the comments suggesting people are getting text messages to make sure to comment the worst possible stuff.

Texts are absolutely happening - but it’s to current and former employees to say, “You’ve gotta see this.”

Nobody needs to be encouraged to say anything here. We all know.

Hi, Liza! 👋

The commenters trying to discredit our very real experience under CMC’s ‘leadership’ are the perfect example of why no one feels safe to come forward and we must do so anonymously. Dissenters are not tolerated under CMC- they are punished, fired and bullied. The people who have risen to the top only do so if they kiss the ring. It’s ki-led morale to see sycophants rise to the top and continue to be rewarded over and over for their abusive behavior and bad business decisions.

Everything said here is absolutely true. I worked under Chris’s team for years before quitting due to the toxicity. The bullying is real. I was expected to be on call 24/7 (without overtime pay) and was reprimanded for not responding to emails late at night + while on vacation. I worked multiple Christmases due to Chris’s capricious decision making. And for what? It’s not like all of these last minute changes were making a dent in the viewership.

Liza Burnett Fefferman and her Communications team have been dispatched to this thread. They’re trying to discredit our experiences by making fun of employees, shifting blame, and distorting reality.

These are key characteristics of abusers and is the very definition of gaslighting. You’re proving our case, Liza.

To the anonymous defender who is insinuating that the claims here are essentially “fake news”… We see what you’re doing, and it’s not going to work. These aren’t “alternative facts”. The stories weren’t written by AI, these things happened and are people’s actual experiences - by the dozens.

Over 11k people have seen these stories and reporters are circling. Karma is a B, and the truth will be known.

PS 11k is still less than the number of times Ridiculousness will air on MTV this weekend.

I’m a former VP who left on my own volition after 10 years. As a former insider, I can report firsthand that everything being said here about Chris is absolutely true…except he’s not as bad as he seems. He’s actually worse.

‘Very’ public.
Yes, in this little venting vacuum and rent free in your head but yes, very public.

Chris has undoubtedly seen this website by now, as have the two other CEOs. So has Liza, and so has HR.

So the question is:
Do you think they’re more concerned about investigating the dozens of allegations of abuse and misconduct, or about how to cover it up now that it’s VERY public?

Does anyone remember when Amy Campbell and Justin Russell appointed a white creative director to lead the AAPI Month 2021 campaign at MTV?

At a time when the AAPI community faced heightened racism during COVID, and many employees felt unsafe at work, Campbell and Russell forced all Asian marketing staff to gather, revisit their trauma, and generate "creative ideas" for their project. Things worsened when the white creative director dismissed ideas from the AAPI team members, which lead to tears, HR complaints, and distress among AAPI employees.

This is just one example of how Campbell and Russell's poor leadership has harmed the company culture, business, and employees. They and McCarthy are one and the same!

Tell me you got laid without telling me you got laid off

Chris was a huge mentor to me when I was a young intern with minimal business experience. I haven’t seen him in years, but I would never question his morals, ethics, or values.

Chris and his leadership team are not as bad as they seem. THEY’RE WORSE!

Corporate America wants someone who makes good entertainment and good business decisions in charge of paramount. Not a bumbling fool who takes credit for other people’s good decisions (e.g. green lighting yellowstone), and his corporate robots, untalented sycophantic babies who spread his misguided lies in the hope they might get to ride his poisonous coattails

PSA: Reach out to HR.
Even if they can’t take immediate action, you’ll at least have your outreach and experiences documented and may be able to protect yourselves from any future retaliation attempts.
cc: Liza & Amy’s teams

This thread is just reinforcing the executives who were chosen.

This is corporate America. Do you think skydance or Sheri want some pushover as a ceo.

You guys are really making Chris and his team look good. Keep giving him that job security.

It seems a few commenters are trying to discredit this thread, but you can tell by the + and - numbers where the validity is.

The 3 CEOs are protecting their own people but going about it a way that has now pushed a lot of the underlying issues that have been there for many years to the surface. Especially those who have had to serve under Chris.

The current situation is extremely toxic, but the toxic people are rising to the top right now.

What hope do current and former staff members have than to post anonymously in the hope that press picks this up. Please continue to write your comments here. The dark side should not be allowed to prevail.

Skydance, David Ellison. A message for you. Do you really think given these concerns that the right people are in charge? That the right people are making the right decisions? If I were you, I’d intervene now before you lose all the talent and are left only with the snakes.

I was sent a text message practically begging me to post negative comments about the staff at paramount on this site.

This thread holds no validity. You can’t even trust anything anyone is saying here. Everyone commenting on here are cowards.

Why are you just now saying something. You think 15 people are going to “take down the man.”

Gen z influenced people of all ages to be soft. This thread is rather comical.

What DIDN’T happen at my time at MTV?

Was it the bullying? Made to stay up during events for days on end on little to no sleep? Theft of wages? Expected to be on call without pay 24 hours a day, 7 days a week? Being treated like a personal assistant/bi--h? Felt like I was being stalked?

Having stress so bad that gave me a 2 week long headache the doctor had to send me to the emergency room?

It was real life Devil Wears Prada, truly took years off my life.

Fu-k MTV!

Breaking news: corporation acts like corporation.

This just in: grown adults & ‘veteran employees’ don’t understand capitalism.

More at 11.

Yes, business is business and hard times call for hard decisions, but that doesn’t require robbing people of their basic human dignity. Chris McCarthy and Amy Campbell are mean-spirited, manipulative, emotionally abusive and most importantly – unsuccessful. They are destroyers of brands and legacies, not to mention people. Fear, inconsistency and duplicity never yield good creative. That’s why “Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios and Paramount Media Networks” (!?!?!) has crashed and burned. Sad times indeed @TheOtherSide. I feel for all those who have and continue to endure such unnecessary misery. As a survivor of this abuse (and I do mean abuse), I’m glad that at the very least, people are sharing their experiences. Maybe they’ll actually be held accountable.

Shari Redstone needs to check out this site 🙂. She really should see what’s happening! We’re doing our best to reach out and keep her informed. She has 100% right to know.

@The Other Side, I wrote the lengthy post 2yzg+1u16CsEJ (starting with Larry & Moe.)

As someone has mentioned, you are proving people’s posts in your attempts at bullying them to stop. Given your words, it would appear you are a junior level employee given the duty to try and counteract the comments being made here. Or you’re one of the individuals spoken about and you’re having an angry reaction at the truth being made public.

For the record, I am veteran employee here with many years of experience in this business. While I will admit to being weird, bitter and at times sad, your use of “small mean little people” does not apply to me or other posters. However, I would argue, it applies to the people being discussed here, possibly including yourself. (Also, it’s “incels” not incells.)

It is not an “unsubstantiated claim” to make factual statements. It is “not sheer and utter nonsense” to relay personally observed events and behaviors. A person is not fueled by their own insecurities or desire to make personal attacks when they share poor business decisions made by executives and the abhorrent practices they support.

As for name-checking non-public figures, in most circumstances I would agree. However, the privacy aspect is no longer valid when someone constantly forces themselves into the public eye; when they are consistently mentioned and discussed in large company meetings and townhalls; when they attempt to throw their professional weight around including name-dropping executives; when they engage in selfish and self-serving behaviors and so on.

I did not write the earlier post on a whim. I struggled with it but I am honestly tired of the all b.s. And while I survived, the tipping point was the layoffs several weeks ago. I just wanted to share so that others know they are not alone in their observations or in being gaslighted and victimized.

Finally, @The Other Side, I 100% agree with you, these are sad signs of the sad times we live in but it’s not me and my fellow posters who caused this situation.