Zombie sex harassment at Oprah Winfrey Network? Judge not buying it

October 13, 2017Media Mention
My News LA

A judge said Friday he is inclined to dismiss a lawsuit by a staff member at the Oprah Winfrey Network, who alleges her supervisor harassed her after she became pregnant.

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge David Minning issued a tentative ruling in which he said he agreed with OWN’s attorneys that there are no triable issues in Rebecca Taylor’s lawsuit. He did not say when he would issue a final ruling.

OWN was created by Winfrey and launched in January 2011. Taylor began working at the network in 2010. She alleges her boss, Nakisha Gowen, began harassing her when she was three months pregnant in 2013 and continued after she gave birth to her son in November of that year. Taylor claims the incidents included Gowen’s reenactment of a sex scene from a zombie-type horror movie, despite common knowledge in their workplace that the plaintiff disliked those types of films.

Defense attorney Priya Sopori countered in her court papers that there is no evidence Taylor suffered severe or pervasive harassment.