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Former ABC News field producer Samira Said sued CBS News chief correspondent Matt Gutman, ABC News, The Walt Disney Co. and an ABC bureau chief on Friday, alleging Gutman made sexualized workplace comments and ABC later fired her after denying medical accommodations related to trauma from covering the Uvalde school massacre.
Said alleged Gutman initiated a conversation about another female correspondent while Said worked on an otherwise all-male team, according to the complaint filed In Los Angeles Superior Court.
“While the team waited in a public queue during the assignment, Gutman initiated a discussion rating a female correspondent’s appearance and reducing her professional standing to a numerical score based on her physical attributes,” the complaint said.
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“The male crew joined in, continuing to assess the woman’s body and looks in Said’s presence. The men attempted to draw Said into the conversation by soliciting her views. Said declined and stated the conversation was inappropriate.”
The filing described a second alleged incident during a movie-release press event, when Said and Gutman disagreed over whether their team should leave the work site.
“In front of multiple coworkers, Gutman responded by making a sexualized insinuation that Said must have an after-hours date in the city and that this is why she did not want to relocate,” the complaint said. “The remark, made audibly to others, demeaned Said and reduced her professional judgment to a sexualized stereotype.”
The allegations against Gutman are part of a broader lawsuit in which Said accused ABC and Disney of discrimination, retaliation, failing to accommodate her medical conditions and wrongfully terminating her. Said worked in ABC News’ Los Angeles bureau from May 2021 until March 2025, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
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Said alleged she was experiencing COVID-19 symptoms when management urged her to cover the May 2022 mass school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Her assignment included interviewing children who witnessed their classmates and teachers being killed, after which she said she experienced severe psychological symptoms, the lawsuit states.
A psychiatrist later cleared Said to return from medical leave with accommodations, but she alleged then-Los Angeles bureau chief David Herndon would not permit a restricted schedule.
Herndon “made it clear that unless she returned without restrictions and with full-week availability, she would not be permitted to resume her role,” the complaint said.
Said alleged she was subsequently moved to weekend desk shifts. She was later assigned to cover the January 2025 Los Angeles wildfires and other hazardous weather events in the city, during which, the complain alleges, heavy equipment allegedly struck her foot and caused a bone contusion.
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ABC terminated Said during what had been presented as a routine meeting on March 5, 2025, the filing said. She is seeking compensatory and punitive damages, attorneys’ fees and a jury trial. The allegations have not been adjudicated.
Gutman joined CBS in January after 17 years at ABC and became the first major on-air hire under CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. CBS announced that Gutman would report for “CBS Mornings” and the “CBS Evening News,” lead reporting for “48 Hours,” contribute to “60 Minutes” and serve as a fill-in anchor.
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Weiss praised Gutman’s reporting when CBS announced his hiring.
“Matt Gutman goes there,” Weiss said. “He brings the audience along with him to whatever story he is covering, and he approaches his work with the qualities we look for in all our journalists: fearlessness, energy and relentlessness.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Disney and CBS for comment, but did not immediately receive a response. A Disney representative told The Los Angeles Times that executives had not yet reviewed the complaint.
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