Maury Povich doesn?t want to go live with this one.
Lawyers for the 67-year-old talk show host filed a motion Thursday requesting that the $100 million sexual harassment lawsuit brought against their client last month by a woman who worked on his syndicated show Maury be dismissed.
Producer Bianca Nardi, 28, claimed in her suit filed Apr. 24 that Povich and several of his colleagues created an unbearable work environment for her. She said that she was told to dress provocatively around the office, watch porno films with some of her bosses, encourage guests to lie about their sexual histories to jazz up the interview segments, and go out and report sexually explicit stories that didn't even make it on the air.
According to Nardi's lawsuit, Maury executive producer Paul Faulhaber dumped a heavier workload on her when she complained and then shipped her off to another producer's team after insinuating that she?d be fired if her grievances didn?t disappear.
Nardi also maintained that the "intimate and sexual" relationship between Povich and producer Donna Brenner Ingber made it increasingly uncomfortable around the office and that she often ended up doing extra work for Ingber.
Povich has been married to TV news anchor Connie Chung since 1984 and the couple co-host Weekends with Maury and Connie on MSNBC.
NBC Universal, which produces Maury, and Povich's production company MoPo are also named in the suit.
Spokespeople for all of the above have denied the charges. "We have done a complete and thorough investigation of her allegations of harassment and we are satisfied that there is no merit to them. We stand behind our experienced and dedicated staff, fully," Maury spokesman Gary Rosen said in April.
Elisabeth Yap, a lawyer for NBC Universal, filed papers Monday stating that a clause in Nardi's producer's contract required her to arbitrate any claims "arising out of any alleged discrimination or harassment."
During arbitration, witnesses are heard from and evidence is given, but it takes place outside of court. The parties entering into arbitration have to agree ahead of time that they'll accept whatever the third-party mediator (like a judge without the robe) decides.
Nardi?s lawyer, Bruce Baron, told reporters that he found the motion to dismiss "ironic and suspect," and that you would think anyone who was innocent of such charges would "embrace the opportunity to defend themselves in a court of law as opposed to bobbing and weaving and looking to silence this in some back room."
"My client looks forward to exercising her constitutional right to obtain justice in a court of law," he said.