Julie Chen returned for another edition of Celebrity Big Brother for the first time since more allegations were made about her husband, former CBS CEO Leslie Moonves.
“Good evening, I’m Julie Chen Moonves. Welcome to the Celebrity Big Brother two-night premiere event,” she said smoothly, five days after the network held a town hall during which employees wanted to make sure her husband won’t see a nickel of that $120M severance pay he thought he had coming, among other questions.
In December, the CBS board declared Les Moonves would get none of that whopping severance payment after the network completed its investigation of the former Chairman and CEO, CBS News, and cultural issues at CBS. The decision seemed all but inevitable, given the disclosures from a draft of an internal report which revealed that he had destroyed evidence and misled investigators in an effort to protect his reputation and payout. In that preliminary report, investigators said they had substantiated numerous accusations of sexual misconduct and uncovered previously undisclosed allegations of wrongdoing.
In other Celebrity Big Brother news, Anthony Scaramucci made his non-White House reality TV debut.
He introduced himself as a business person and entrepreneur who got fired as White House Communications Director after just 10 days “for using curse words.”
He was being too modest. Scaramucci made White House history in an interview with The New Yorker he insists he thought was off the record, conducted very shortly after he joined the administration.
In the interview, Scaramucci said White House Chief of Staff Reince Priebus “is a fucking paranoid schizophrenic,” and that what is wanted to accomplish first at the White House is “fucking kill all the leakers and I want to get the President’s agenda on track so we can succeed for the American people.” And yet, he added, he does not crave attention, explaining, “I’m not Steve Bannon, I’m not trying to suck my own c•ck.”
Making his Celebrity Big Brother debut, Scaramucci said he still talks with Trump – once or twice a month, and he usually does the calling.
“I haven’t come across one person who doesn’t think I’m nuts for going into the Big Brother house,” Scaramucci said, so apparently he has not discussed it with former The Apprentice star Trump.
“It’s going to last longer than my stint in the White House, god willing,” Scaramucci said, optimistically.
“I started at the White House my first day with a chain saw and hockey mask,” Scaramucci described in the CBB opening bit where competitors let viewers get to know them. “I left a big mark there and I expect to leave a big mark on the Big Brother house too.”
That was the last time on the one-hour season debut that Scaramucci did not look like a deer caught in headlights after making a terrible career move.
(Excerpt) Read more in: Deadline Hollywood