CBS announced that Ian Metrose, its longtime senior vp talent relations and special events, is leaving the network. The executive, who’d spent two decades at the company, has been under scrutiny since a New York Attorney General’s report in November 2022 revealed how he was centrally involved in efforts to counter sexual misconduct allegations against his then-boss, the former CBS head Leslie Moonves.
Metrose’s activities allegedly included serving as a go-between with an LAPD captain who provided him with a Moonves accuser’s confidential police report. Over a period of months, the New York A.G. contends he schemed with C-suite brass to quell a crisis they believed could ultimately knock off the chief. (Nonetheless, eventually, it did.) The matter has since been the subject of detailed coverage published in February in The Hollywood Reporter, as well as a new book, Unscripted, which examines corporate governance at CBS.
Metrose and his superiors didn’t respond to THR’s questions in February. CBS issued a statement Mar. 18 explaining that “Ian decided to leave CBS at the end of his contract this month. We thank him for his 20 years leading network and studio events and wish him much success in his next role.”
Metrose, who earlier in his career worked for Castle Rock and Fox Searchlight, is married to another CBS veteran, Lauri Metrose. She left her post in May 2022 as evp communications at CBS Studios after two decades with the network, taking a top PR job outside entertainment at Expedia.
The retinue of CBS executives identified by the New York A.G.’s office in its report as having assisted Moonves in attempting to silence his accuser, a veteran TV executive, have all now departed the company — except one. Thomas Cruthers, CBS’ chief security officer at the time, who ran a counterintelligence probe targeting the accuser’s family, has since ascended in the corporate hierarchy, becoming the chief security officer for the network’s parent, Paramount Global.
