A former ABC News field producer filed a wrongful termination lawsuit against the network, including allegations that her former colleague Matt Gutman, now chief correspondent with CBS News, made inappropriate sexualized remarks when they worked together.
Samira Said filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court on Friday. The lawsuit names as defendants ABC, The Walt Disney Co., Gutman and David Herndon, who had worked as Los Angeles bureau chief. Among other things, she claimed wrongful termination, discrimination, hostile work environment harassment and retaliation for engaging in protected activity.
Said claimed that she was terminated after being denied accommodations for mental health issues. She was being treated by a psychiatrist, including for depression, and her provider advised her to reduce her workload to protect her health.
Her lawsuit made a number of claims of adverse employment actions. Said alleged that in one incident during her employment, she was placed on a male-only team that included Gutman, an on-air correspondent, and two crew members.
According to the complaint, “While the team waited in a public queue during the assignment, Gutman initiated a discussion rating a female correspondent’s appearance and reducing her professional standing to a numerical score based on her physical attributes. The male crew joined in, continuing to assess the woman’s body and looks in Said’s presence. The men attempted to draw Said into the conversation by soliciting her views. Said declined and stated the conversation was inappropriate.”
In another incident, per the lawsuit, she and Gutman were at a press day related to a film release, and they disagreed on whether the team should leave the work site. According to the lawsuit,
“In front of multiple coworkers, Gutman responded by making a sexualized insinuation that Said must have an after-hours date in the city and that this is why she did not want to relocate. The remark, made audibly to others, demeaned Said and reduced her professional judgment to a sexualized stereotype.”
CBS News and ABC News have not commented on the litigation.
Gutman joined CBS News earlier this year, after a long tenure at ABC, where he served as chief national correspondent.
According to the lawsuit, after experiencing Covid and covering the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas, Said was approved for medical leave for two weeks in August, 2022, but “fearing that her employment would be terminated if she remained out too long, Said felt compelled to rush her medical leave and to communicate an expedited return.”
For the rest of the year, her psychiatrist continued to certify the medical necessity of her leave on a recurring basis, and the following January cleared her to return to work subject to reasonable accommodations “designed to enable her to perform the essential functions of the position while protecting against re-exposure to trauma triggers,” per the lawsuit.
Said claimed that HR personnel presented her with an “ultimatum to either return to work without any accommodations, or not to return at all.” Said eventually withdrew her accommodation requests because she was “effectively deterred from doing so” by the defendants “prior course of conduct.”
The lawsuit claimed that she was demoted to weekend desk shifts and, although she was told the assignment was temporary until a replacement was hired, no person was.
In early 2025, Said was assigned to cover the Los Angeles wildfires and additional weather events, according to the suit, and while in the field sustained a bone contusion when a piece of heavy equipment struck her foot. A Disney physician examined her and determined that she was not required to take leave, per the suit.
The lawsuit claimed that ABC News Vice President Katie DenDaas met with her and emphasized that she was one of the news division’s best performers, but she was terminated some days later, on March 5, 2025.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, attorneys fees and costs and declaratory relief.
Kristen Kish Demands Top Chef Boost Its Prize Money – Here’s Why
As the cost of groceries continues to rise, cooking in restaurants and at home has become more expensive. Kristen Kish, host of Top Chef, is well aware of this squeeze and wants the winners of the Bravo reality cooking show to be awarded more prize money for triumphing in the kitchen.
“I was just talking with some folks from Bravo, and I was like, ‘We need to increase the prize money.’ On my season, Season 10, it was $125,000. Now it’s $250,000, but with inflation, we should be creeping up near a million,” she said during a conversation at Deadline’s Contenders Television: The Nominees Studio. “Eggs are expensive these days. We need to like up the ante a little bit, but I do understand that it’s far more complicated than just saying give us a million bucks.”
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Kish landed an Emmy nomination in the Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality Competition Program category for a third year in a row, one for each year she has been hosting the long-running series, having replaced Padma Lakshmi in Season 21.
She is, once again, up against The Traitors’ Alan Cumming in the category, ironic given that she brought her kitchen star power to the Peacock mystery competition series this year too.
Check out the Contenders conversation with Kish below and scroll down for photos from the event.
Kish said that every year she is nominated it feels “surreal” and “exciting.” “I feel really proud for myself, but there is no show if there are no chefs. I am so proud for everyone involved in making the show. It changes so many people’s lives in our industry,” she said.
This season, set in the Carolinas, it changed the life of Rhoda Magbitang, who grew up in the Philippines and worked in kitchens including Michelin-starred Mélisse, Suzanne Goin’s A.O.C., République and Bazaar by José Andrés before winning Season 23.
Much like Kish, when she was a contestant (and winner) on Season 10 of Top Chef, Magbitang had to go through Last Chance Kitchen to win.
“Coming out of Last Chance Kitchen, a lot of the chefs will say if you’ve been through it, you are reignited. You have a little extra. There is some kind of mental load reset. The worst thing has happened, which is [they] got already got kicked off. So, you relieve yourself of that pressure,” Kish said.
Kish has a more comforting style than many reality TV hosts. This season it showed when she comforted a distraught chef, Nana Araba Wilmot, who didn’t have time to plate her dish, and also dealt with an injured contestant.
“I feel like an older sister or a peer that maybe has been in that particular restaurant for a little bit of extra time where… I can make people feel a little bit more calm and hopefully more confident, while also still giving feedback that holds them accountable,” she said.
Top Chef, produced by Magical Elves, has already been renewed for Season 24. Kish wouldn’t give much away as to where it will be set. “I have heard rumblings. I have a general idea of where we’re going, and all I can say is I’m very, very excited for the entire plan,” she said.
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