CBS Television Studios has fired NCIS: New Orleans producer and former showrunner Brad Kern amidst allegations of sexual harassment and insensitive behavior. “We have ended Brad Kern’s role as consulting producer on NCIS: New Orleans,” CBS Television Studios said in a statement, “and his overall deal with the Studio.” The allegations against Kern first came out in public in December 2017, when Variety reported that Kern — then the showrunner of NCIS: New Orleans — had been investigated twice for sexual harassment and that he allegedly continued a pattern of inappropriate behavior in the workplace, making sexist and racist remarks and mocking a nursing mother. CBS signed Kern to a new two-year deal this spring, though he later stepped down from his role as a showrunner to become a consulting producer on NCIS: New Orleans. In June, CBS opened a third investigation into Kern and hired outside counsel, looking into recent allegations as well as those from Kern’s past, which includes work on Beauty and the Beast, Human Target, and Charmed. According to The Hollywood Reporter, that inquiry ended in the past few weeks, and according their sources, many believe that Kern would still have a job if Les Moonves had not recently been forced out after allegations of sexual harassment and assault.
