Daniel Stern recalls being a whistleblower calling out alleged harassment on ’90s sitcom

Daniel Stern recalls his time as a whistleblower on the ’90s sitcom.

In his new memoir, “Home Alone,” the actor describes how he was initially excited to star in “Partners” in 1999. Unfortunately, the show fell apart amid sexual harassment accusations and a multi-million-dollar lawsuit targeting the “Home Alone” star. .

“They offered me a lot of money, made me an executive producer… they had a famous director, Brett Ratner, and we cast great actors, including Jeremy Piven,” he recalls in his book, repeating that he initially had high hopes for it. Series.

Stern claims that shortly after filming began on the pilot episode, women on set began confiding in him, claiming that both “Brett and Jeremy were sexually harassing them and they were very afraid.”

The “Breaking Away” star claims he told the other executive producers what he heard, but was allegedly advised to “just keep quiet” because they would “take care of it.”

Stern writes that he was eventually called into a meeting with Columbia TV personalities who were allegedly irritated with him for raising his concerns. From his account, they believed the series had a good chance of gaining interest and did not want any controversy to damage the series.

As he was leaving, Stern claims a producer pulled him aside and shouted, “Don’t say a word to anyone or we’ll sue you!”

Stern claims he was expressly told not to tell then-CBS CEO Les Moonves, who resigned in 2018 amid sexual harassment allegations.

However, just days before CBS revealed the series’ lineup, the producer allegedly called Stern furiously, falsely accusing the actor of leaving a message with Moonves that he didn’t want to do the series.

When the series was not picked up, Columbia TV sued the “The Wonder Years” alum for $25 million for allegedly “sabotaging the show.”

After spending a fortune on lawyers, a deal was struck. The actor had to return the money he received for the performance, and the lawsuit was dismissed.

“It was a terrifying experience,” the “Diner” star told Page Six exclusively. “What was happening was unimaginable. I felt like I was in quicksand. “What started out as a wonderful thing suddenly went wrong.”

Stern noted that the failure damaged his career and made him feel somewhat “embarrassed” and “afraid of the industry”.

“It went by relatively quickly,” he explained, “but I felt a change.”

The “Wonder Years” alum admitted he still has no idea what really happened, but wrote in his book: “Thank God for the MeToo movement. And fuck Brett Ratner, and fuck Jeremy Piven, and fuck Les Moonves, and fuck that top executive at Columbia!”

Representatives for Piven and Ratner did not immediately respond to Page Six’s requests for comment.

As Page Six previously reported, in 2018, three women accused Piven of sexual harassment.

Meanwhile, Olivia Munn claimed that Ratner masturbated in front of her in the film set in 2004, and Moonves allegedly tried to mislead CBS by concealing evidence of his sexual misconduct in 2018.

Piven definitely did that he denied any allegations inappropriate behavior and called himself “collateral damage” of the #MeToo movement. Ratner too he denied all allegations done to him in the past.