CBS Sacks Vice President Who said Las Vegas Victims Don't Deserve Sympathy Because Country Music Fans Are 'Often Republican'

CBS has parted ways with one of the company’s top lawyers after she said she was “not even sympathetic” to victims of the Las Vegas shooting because “country music fans often are Republican,” when discussing the mass shooting that unfolded in Las Vegas late Sunday night. 

Monday night she issued a statement of apology. 

Hayley Geftman-Gold, the network's now-former vice president and senior counsel, said, “Earlier today I posted an indefensible post in a Facebook discussion thread concerning the tragic Las Vegas shooting, a statement I sincerely regret. I am deeply sorry for diminishing the significance of every life affected by Stephen Paddock’s terrorism last night and for the pain my words have inflicted on the loved ones of the victims. My shameful comments do not reflect the beliefs of my former employer, colleagues, family, and friends. Nor do they reflect my actual beliefs — this senseless violence warrants the deepest empathy. I understand and accept all consequences that my words have incurred.”

A CBS spokeswoman told Fox News that Geftman-Gold, “who was with us for approximately one year, violated the standards of our company and is no longer an employee of CBS. Her views as expressed on social media are deeply unacceptable to all of us at CBS. Our hearts go out to the victims in Las Vegas and their families.”

Geftman-Gold took to Facebook after a gunman opened fire at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas, killing at least 59 people and sending more than 510 others to hospitals.

A @CBS legal exec thought the Las Vegas victims had it coming. pic.twitter.com/YjeSyAox59

— Brandon Morse (@TheBrandonMorse) October 2, 2017

“If they wouldn’t do anything when children were murdered I have no hope that Repugs [sic] will ever do the right thing,” Geftman-Gold wrote in a now-deleted message that was first reported and captured by The Daily Caller.

Geftman-Gold continued: “I’m actually not even sympathetic bc [sic] country music fans often are Republican gun toters [sic].”

Geftman-Gold is presumably referring to Sandy Hook, which occurred in Newtown, Conn. back in 2012. A 20-year-old gunman, Adam Lanza, killed 20 children and six adults during the tragic event that sparked intense political debates regarding gun control.

Her attorney, Carrie A. Goldberg, responded: “In the last few hours my client, her family and friends have been bombarded by online death unimaginable in quantity and detail. We beg people to show love and support to survivors and loved ones — in Las Vegas and their own lives — instead of creating more violence.”

Geftman-Gold did not work directly with the network’s news division. According to her LinkedIn bio, Geftman-Gold worked at CBS since September 2016 and graduated from the prestigious Columbia University law school in 2000.

CBS and Viacom Merger Proposal Withdrew By Shari Redstone

Sumner and Shari Redstone have reversed their marching orders for CBS and Viacom, telling the two companies that they should stop exploring the merger that the family had all but demanded just three months ago.

On Monday, Mr. Redstone, the ailing 93-year old media mogul, and Ms. Redstone, his daughter, sent a letter to the boards of the two media companies stating that “after careful assessment and meetings with the leadership of both companies, we have concluded that this is not the right time to merge the companies.”

The Redstones said they had been impressed with the “forward-looking thinking and strategic plan” under the leadership of Robert Bakish, who had been the interim chief executive of Viacom for about a month. Later Monday, Viacom announced that Mr. Bakish, a longtime executive at the company, had been named the permanent chief executive, effective immediately.

The Redstones stated that “CBS continues to perform exceptionally well under Les Moonves,” the chairman, president and chief executive of CBS Corporation. “We have every reason to believe that momentum will continue on a stand-alone basis,” they said.

The Redstone family controls about 80 percent of the voting stock in CBS and Viacom through National Amusements, the private theater chain company started by Mr. Redstone’s father.

The development continues a roller coaster year for the $40 billion entertainment empire that included court battles in three states, the ousting of Viacom’s chief executive and now a complete turnaround on the call to combine CBS and Viacom. The proposed all-stock deal would have left the family in control of the combined company.

In September, the Redstones sent a blunt and public letter to the boards of CBS and Viacom, urging the two companies to explore a deal. The rationale was that a combination would “offer substantial synergies that would allow the combined company to respond even more aggressively and effectively to the challenges of the changing entertainment and media landscape.”

Last month, Ms. Redstone continued to advocate the deal during the annual DealBook conference in New York. She said that it was more important than ever for entertainment companies that create content to grow in order to improve their leverage against powerful distributors like Comcast and AT&T.

“Scale matters because it is going to give us leverage,” Ms. Redstone said at the conference, “and we are going to need leverage with some partners.”

She did say, however, that it would be possible for the two companies to remain independent: “They are two strong companies, and they both will survive.”