The allegations are not new to the media mogul: The financial news agency Bloomberg, which he founded, is said to have had a macho corporate culture for a long time. In the TV duel, Warren accused him of calling women “fat women” and “horse-faced lesbians”. She also asked him to end confidentiality contracts with ex-employees.
Bloomberg had rejected this request on Wednesday. The most important thing for the women concerned is that they may not have liked one of his jokes, he said. “You signed these agreements and we will live with them.” The public then booed Bloomberg.
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He had thought about it again, Bloomberg said now. He came to the decision to release three women from confidentiality agreements, which prevented them from talking about previous lawsuits filed against him for allegedly sexist statements.
Any woman who wanted it would “get approval,” the media entrepreneur and former New York Mayor wrote on Twitter.
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His media company has identified three nondisclosure agreements that have been “signed with women over the past 30 or more years that have complained about statements that they claim they have made,” Bloomberg said.
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According to the news agency AP, one of the three women is said to be a 55-year-old former Bloomberg employee. She is said to have filed a complaint against Bloomberg more than 20 years ago. It was about an incident in which Bloomberg is said to have first asked the woman about her married life. When she told him that she was pregnant with her first child, he is said to have said: “kill it”. The woman then left the company. Bloomberg denies the allegations.
He had only started the Democratic candidate race in November. Since then, the multi-billionaire has invested hundreds of millions of dollars from his personal wealth in his campaign. His rivals accuse him of wanting to buy the presidency. Bloomberg said that he wanted to be a leader that women can trust.
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Warren and other Democrats are unimpressed by Bloomberg’s announcement to end the confidentiality agreement. “It’s just not good enough,” said Warren. “If there are only three, why didn’t he just release them all immediately?” A spokeswoman for Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden said Bloomberg should release all affected women from such contracts: “He can, and he should be.”
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