The CEO of the Time’s Up movement, created by celebrities to defend women against harassment, resigned Thursday after being accused of appeasing ex-New York governor Andrew Cuomo, himself pushed to leave after numerous testimonials.
“Leading Time’s Up has been a very enriching experience and we have accomplished a lot together to improve working conditions for women across the country,” Tina Tchen wrote on her Twitter account announcing her resignation.
But the lawyer, who was also Michelle Obama’s chief of staff during her time in the White House, believes that the time has come to leave the place.
“It is time for Time’s Up to evolve and move forward (…) It is clear that I am not the leader who can accomplish this at the present time,” she continues, acknowledging that her presence at the head of the organization is a “divisor”.
Although she does not mention it explicitly, her departure is directly linked to the recent controversy that this week prompted the Democratic Governor of New York State, Andrew Cuomo, to resign over accusations of harassment.
American media have indeed claimed that Tina Tchen had blocked the publication of a statement by Time’s Up in support of Lindsey Boylan, the first woman to have spoken publicly to accuse Mr. Cuomo of sexual harassment.
Former Time’s Up president Roberta Kaplan also recently resigned after reports claiming her law firm was defending someone close to Mr. Cuomo and that Ms. Kaplan herself had intervened in the case.
Former members of Time’s Up and victims of sexual abuse had stepped up to the plate, accusing the organization of having failed in its mission to protect women.
Initiated by a manifesto signed by 300 women in Hollywood on January 1, 2018, the day after the revelations of the Weinstein affair, Time’s Up called for “a change in the perception and treatment of women in our society”.
A year later, the organization raised more than $ 22 million for a legal support fund for victims of harassment, which benefited thousands of women.
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