NEW YORK (AP) – Chief executive of advocacy group for victims of sexual harassment Time’s Up resigned on Thursday amid outrage over revelations that his leaders advised the administration of former New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo after being first accused of misconduct last year.
Time’s Up president Tina Tchen said in a statement that “she has spent a career fighting for positive change for women,” but that she was no longer the right person to lead the #MeToo era organization. .
“I am especially aware that my position at the helm of TIME’S UP has become a painful and divisive focal point, where the same women and other activists who should work together to fight for change fight each other in harmful ways,” he said. to say. he wrote.
The group’s chief operating officer, Monifa Bandele, will act as interim chief executive officer.
Tchen’s resignation comes after the August 9 departure of the organization’s president, Roberta Kaplan. Both women had been the target of anger from Time’s Up supporters over the idea that they had offered help to Cuomo, who resigned Monday three weeks after an investigation overseen by the New York Attorney General concluded he was sexually harassing at least 11 women.
The report detailed Cuomo’s attempt to discredit his first public indictment, Lindsey Boylan, after he was accused last December of making inappropriate comments, but earlier explicitly detailed allegations of unwanted touching and kissing.
Text messages obtained by The Washington Post show that Tchen initially discouraged other Time’s Up leaders from making any public comment on Boylan’s allegations. Later, Cuomo’s main assistant, Melissa DeRosa he asked Kaplan, his lawyer, to review a letter that the governor’s supporters wanted to circulate attacking Boylan’s credibility.
“Mrs. Kaplan read the letter to the head of the advocacy group Times Up, and both allegedly suggested that without the statements about Ms. Boylan’s interactions with male colleagues, the letter was okay,” the report said. , without explicitly naming Tchen.
The letter was finally never published.
Later, after Boylan expanded his allegations against Cuomo, T ime’s Up called for an investigation..
Boylan noted Thursday that Tchen’s resignation statement did not include apologies.
“It’s sad that @TinaTchen still can’t take responsibility for the damage he’s caused,” he tweeted to Boylan. This sentiment was echoed by another Cuomo accuser, Charlotte Bennett.
“Instead of offering a sincere apology to the survivors, activists and allies who have been harmed, @TinaTchen comes out the same way our former governor did: listing his accomplishments, pointing the finger at others and trying justify their inexcusable behavior “. Good delivery “.
Tchen declined to comment.
Time’s Up began in January 2018 amid outrage over sexual misconduct by film producer Harvey Weinstein. More than 300 women entertainers, from television station Shonda Rhimes to actresses Reese Witherspoon and Eva Longoria, signed an open letter establishing them as founders.
His outstanding debut continued with the Golden Globes of that month, in which attendees dressed in black and Time’s Up pins were put up to draw attention to the gender equality movement.
Tchen was previously an aide to then-President Barack Obama, chief of staff to then-First Lady Michelle Obama and executive director of the White House Council of Women and Girls. She co-founded the Time’s Up Legal Defense Fund in 2017, along with Kaplan and two other women. The fund was set up to help daily survivors with legal expenses and had raised nearly $ 22 million less than a year after its founding.
In a statement Thursday, the Time’s Up board praised Tchen’s term, saying “it has made a difference in the lives of so many and we appreciate his work and impact.” But accepting his resignation was a measure of accountability, the board said.
It’s not the first time the defense group has been plagued by leadership issues. Tchen took the helm in 2019 after former WNBA president Lisa Borders resigned as president and CEO after allegations of sexual misconduct against her own child.
Tarana Burke, the founder of #MeToo and a member of Time’s Up’s extended board, offered the Associated Press his perspective on troubled waters. She described Time’s Up as a well-meaning young organization that now faces how to wield power.
“I think they have to do a lot of soul searching and at the end of the day,” he said. “The other extreme may be that they have to figure out how to function differently, they have to give up part of the power and they have to sacrifice some of the victories to do the job well, in the way that people trust “.
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Associated Press reporter Jocelyn Noveck contributed to this report.