How ‘The Young and the Restless’ Star Joshua Morrow Got Tangled up in the Les Moonves Scandal
One of The Young and the Restless‘ primary characters is that of Nicholas Newman. The role has been held by Joshua Morrow since 1994. In amidst the 2018 CBS scandal involving CEO Les Moonves, Morrow’s name became a part of the conversations. What happened?
Joshua Morrow is a drama-free mainstay on ‘The Young and the Restless’
For more than 25 years, Morrow’s been the only (adult) star to play Victor Newman’s son. As one of the soap’s least problematic stars on The Young and the Restless, Morrow maintains a fairly low-key profile when not at work.
The married father of four just celebrated 19 years with wife Tobe Keeney. Despite his celebrity-status and multiple Emmy nominations, Morrow’s priorities lie within his family unit.
Morrow told Soaps in Depth their biggest stressor these days has little to do with fame or resuming work on Y&R amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. In fact, Morrow and his wife are more focused on what their kids are up to.
“Cooper is a junior in high school, so we’re in the thick of college prep!” he said. “He’s an aspiring musician and wants so badly to be a music producer. He would drop out of school and just make music every day if we’d let him! I hope it happens for him. He’s really talented, but it’s a tough industry!”
He continued: “You keep yourself up at night wondering, ‘Have I done all right? Have I done this kid a disservice?’ There is no blueprint. They are all going to make their own choices and you just hope that your morals will guide them to the place they need to get to!”
Considering all of this, Morrow might be one of the last names fans would expect to come up when speaking about CBS ex-CEO, Les Moonves. Here’s how the Y&R star’s name became a part of the conversations.
CBS head Les Moonves had dealings with Morrow’s agent
In November 2018, the New York Times posted a lengthy expose regarding former CEO, Moonves, the incidents that led to his exit, and what occurred afterward.
The common link between Moonves and Morrow is talent manager, Marv Dauer. One client Dauer represented, Bobbie Phillips, detailed a 1995 meeting with Moonves (who was president of Warner Bros. at the time). Phillips alleged sexual misconduct against Moonves which happened during that meeting.
“I strongly believe that the sexual encounter with Ms. Phillips more than 20 years ago was consensual,” Moonves said in a statement.
Furthermore, the outlet reported that Morrow met with Moonves in early 2018, before Moonves was fired. The connection linking Morrow to any of this stems from the idea that Dauer blackmailed Moonves, leveraging his clients’ needs — like Morrow and Phillips — against Moonves.
Some noted the curious timing of Morrow’s character changes when Nick Newman created the new business, Dark Horse, giving Morrow a new set to act in.
Moonves later admitted to working with Dauer to get Phillips a job so she wouldn’t go public with her allegations against Moonves. There were other actors allegedly involved in meetings with Moonves at the time such as Phillip Boyd and longtime All My Children star Eva LaRue — who now appears in Y&R.
Have Morrow or his agent addressed the scandal?
Morrow doesn’t appear to be directly involved in any part of this, nor has he addressed as much. His place on Y&R has remained stead since his ’94 start and any connection to Moonves doesn’t seem to be a direct result of Morrow’s own wishes or knowledge.
Dauer, on the other hand, first refused to comment to the Times, later denying all accusations of blackmail or collusion.
“I don’t know how I got in the middle of this,” he said. “I wouldn’t even know how to blackmail someone. Not in my wildest dreams. Yes, I did try to get my clients parts. That’s my job. That’s what managers do.”
Dauer also represented the late John Callahan (All My Children star and LaRue’s ex-husband). We don’t know if Morrow has since moved to another talent agent. He saves the drama for daytime TV.
The Young and the Restless airs weekdays on CBS.
