The Late Show with Stephen Colbert music booker since 2017 Giovanni Cianci was fired this week following an accusation of sexual misconduct from 2010. A source with knowledge of the situation told Variety, “Gio is no longer employed by the show.”
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The allegation comes from musician Paige Stark of the band Tashaki Miyaka, who made an Instagram post two weeks ago detailing her encounter with Cianci. She claims that in 2010 when the two worked for Lookout Management that Cianci harassed and attempted to assault her in a hotel elevator after the CMJ Music Marathon, following a continuing pattern of predatory behavior. She detailed the harassment and attempted assault in an email to Cianci’s former boss at Lookout, Aram Goldberg, in 2017 that apparently went unheeded.
He grabbed her stuff and we got into the elevator to bring the gear upstairs. As soon as we were alone Gio pushed me against the wall and tried to kiss me. When I said no he became more aggressive and pinned me against the elevator wall. I pleaded with him that I had a boyfriend, that I wanted to be taken seriously, that I wanted to be represented by Lookout. To all my pleas he said “so what.”
According to Stark, this was not the end of Cianci’s harassment, as he followed her and her bandmate to a bar until forcibly convinced by a male friend of Stark’s to leave. Following the incident at CMJ, Cianci allegedly continued to “harass” her on social media and via cellphone communication for several months. Stark says her email to Goldberg was ultimately ignored.
Variety reached out to two of Stark’s friends—one who was at the bar on the night in question in 2010 and another who spoke to her around the time of the incident—who corroborated Stark’s account. See Paige Stark’s full post below, including the initial email to Aram Goldberg from 2017.
According to Variety, Colbert music segment producer Kateri Palen, a veteran of the show for five years, will now handle booking musical acts for the late night talk show.
[H/T Variety]