Former CNN Exec Sexually Assaulted Intern During 1996 Olympics, Complaint Alleges

Former CNN Exec Sexually Assaulted Intern During 1996 Olympics, Complaint Alleges

Harold Hutchison on June 24, 2023

A former NBC intern says she was assaulted in 1996 by a man who became a top executive at CNN, according to legal documents filed Thursday.

Aarthi Rajaraman sued Michael Bass, who was an interim head of CNN following the departure of Jeff Zucker, claiming he lured her to his hotel room and blackballed her after she rejected his advances, the complaint alleges.

“He began kissing and groping her without her consent and continued to do so even though she did not reciprocate the kissing or groping,” the lawsuit, filed in New York under the Adult Survivors Act, says.

Ex-NBC and CNN Exec Michael Bass Accused of 1996 Sexual Assault by Former Intern: Aarthi Rajaraman says the incident occurred when she was 20 in a lawsuit filed Friday in New York https://t.co/GxS43j93LI

— Gossip Bucket (@GossipBucket) June 24, 2023

The complaint says Rajaraman sought an interview with Bass, who at the time was a senior producer at the Today Show, but that he was “extremely cold and dismissive” and that he offered no help in finding a job.

“Plaintiff eventually understood she was being punished for refusing to engage in sexual activity with her boss,” the lawsuit says.

Democratic Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York signed the Adult Survivors Act into law May 24, 2022, creating a one-year “lookback” window for survivors of sexual assault to file lawsuits, even though the statute of limitations had expired.

Writer E. Jean Carroll said during a CNN interview that she helped secure the passage of the legislation to target former President Donald Trump.

NBC did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.