CBS correspondent Matt Gutman sued over alleged sexual harassment at ABC

A wrongful-termination lawsuit filed in Los Angeles on Aug. 14 accuses CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman of sexual harassment during his tenure at ABC News. The complaint, brought by former ABC field producer Samira Said, says Gutman made a "sexualized insinuation" about her and participated in a discussion in which he and two male crew members rated a female correspondent’s appearance, reducing her professional standing to a numerical score based on physical attributes. Said says she declined to join the conversation, calling it inappropriate.

The suit also describes an incident in which Gutman allegedly suggested Said should arrange an after-hours date, a remark the complaint says demeaned her and framed her professional judgment in a sexualized stereotype. Said further alleges that ABC required her to work while she was on protected leave after testing positive for COVID-19 and that she was denied reasonable accommodations following a traumatic assignment in Uvalde, Texas, in 2022.

Said, who worked at ABC’s Los Angeles bureau from May 2021 to March 2025, claims she was demoted to weekend desk shifts in early 2023 and was terminated in March 2025 after sustaining a workplace injury. Her attorney, Aaron Gbewonyo, described the circumstances as violations of the law and suggested the conduct may not be isolated to this case.

Gutman, who joined ABC in 2008 and moved to CBS in January, has faced prior controversies, including a 2023 comment about a suspect’s texts and a 2020 on-air error regarding Kobe Bryant’s family. CBS and ABC have not responded to requests for comment.