Tavis Smiley Hits Back at Misconduct Claims: PBS Suspended Me Without Giving Me ‘Due Process’

Tavis Smiley was on Fox News tonight, and he slammed PBS once again for suspending him over his alleged sexual misconduct with network employees.

Ever since Smiley was taken off PBS, he has insisted that the network made a “huge mistake,” and he intends to challenge the accusations against himself. When Smiley joined Tucker Carlson on Monday night, the embattled TV presenter shared his anger about how PBS apparently decided to axe him without speaking to him first and initially refused to meet with him to talk things over.

Smiley said his attorneys had to threaten a lawsuit against PBS to secure a meeting with network higher-ups. However, Smiley said the discussion was full of vague questions, he wasn’t given a chance to refute any of the allegations, and it seemed like PBS made up its mind about him before the meeting even happened.

“In that three-hour conversation I was never told what the accusations were, what the accusations were, who the accusers were. I was never allowed to provide any data or evidence to debunk anything that I could have debunked…They wouldn’t allow me to present any evidence, and they, frankly, didn’t give me due process, and on top of that, they have to this moment not talked to anyone on my current staff.”

Smiley went on say he understood why TV networks are concerned about sexual harassment allegations lately, though he continued to slam the PBS process (or lack thereof) for not speaking to him ahead of his suspension.

“They made a huge mistake. They’ve engaged in a sloppy investigation and something needs to be done to fix this,” said Smiley. “There are many things in my life that I’ve done in the past that I might not do today, but it does not rise to the level of this kind of public shame, this kind of public humiliation, this kind of wrongful termination, and this kind of personal destruction.”

Watch above, via Fox News.

[Image via screengrab]

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