CBS anchor Matt Gutman sued for alleged sexual harassment

Matt Gutman, a CBS News correspondent who recently filled in on the "CBS Evening News" and helped the program reach a weekly audience of 4.1 million viewers, has been sued by former ABC News field producer Samira Said. Said alleges that Gutman made inappropriate sexual remarks during two separate assignments several years ago. In one incident, she says Gutman began rating a female correspondent's appearance and reduced her professional standing to a numerical score, a discussion that other male crew members joined. Said refused to participate, describing the conversation as inappropriate. In a second incident, while covering a press event, Gutman allegedly made a sexualized insinuation about Said in front of coworkers, which the suit says demeaned her professional judgment.

The complaint, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, also names ABC News and its parent company The Walt Disney Co. as defendants. Said claims she was wrongfully terminated in 2025 after disclosing mental-health concerns and seeking medical leave following a traumatic assignment covering the 2022 Uvalde school shooting. She alleges the network violated California's Fair Employment and Housing Act by denying accommodations and continuing to assign work despite her condition. Said is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, as well as attorneys' fees.

Gutman, who spent 17 years at ABC News before joining CBS in January, was the first high-profile hire of CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. The lawsuit follows Gutman's recent public comments about a phone-fraud scam he encountered.