Hockenberry's Harassment: A Former Takeaway Producer Speaks Out
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All this week, we’ve been covering the recent allegations of sexual harassment and bullying against the former host of this show, John Hockenberry.
Kristen Meinzer was a producer on The Takeaway for eight years, and the former co-host of the Movie Date Podcast. She is one of the sources named in the New York Magazine piece by journalist and author Suki Kim, who we spoke to on Monday. Meinzer agreed to speak with us, to share her story directly with listeners.
“He rolled right up to me at my desk, grabbed my face, and started kissing me,” Meinzer told Kim. “I moved my head away and pushed him away, and I said, ‘No, no, please don’t.’”
Meinzer recalls that as the worst moment with Hockenberry, but also told New York Magazine about repeated instances of harassment via social media.
And the message from management, Meinzer told Kim, was “If you speak up, you’ll disappear.”
Today, Meinzer is director of non-fiction programming at Panoply and co-host of Panoply's "By the Book" podcast. She joins us to talk about her experience working under John Hockenberry.
This segment is hosted by Todd Zwillich
