Top editor for National Enquirer accused of sexual misconduct
Dylan Howard
The behavior by Dylan Howard  currently the chief content officer of American Media Inc.   occurred while  he  was running the company's Los Angeles office  according to men and women who worked there.  Howard 's self-proclaimed nickname was "Dildo " a phallus-shaped sex toy  the former employees said.  His  conduct led to an internal inquiry in 2012 by an outside consultant  and former employees said  he  stopped working out of the L.A. office after the inquiry.
 Howard  quit soon after the report was completed  but the company rehired  him  one year later with a promotion that landed  him  in the company's main office in New York. It was not clear whether  Howard  faced any discipline over the accusations. AP is not aware of any sexual harassment allegations involving  Howard  since  he  was rehired.
The AP spoke with 12 former employees who knew about the investigation into  Howard 's behavior  though not all were aware of every detail. The outside investigator hired to examine complaints about  Howard 's behavior also confirmed to AP that he completed a report.
In a brief phone interview with the AP   Howard  characterized the ex-employees' claims as "baseless."
A lawyer for American Media confirmed Tuesday that an outside investigator was hired to look into two employees' claims about  Howard 's behavior.
The lawyer  Cam Stracher  said the investigation did not show serious wrongdoing. Stracher confirmed that one employee had complained that  Howard  said  he  wanted to create a Facebook account for her vagina  but Stracher said  Howard  said that never happened.
In his job   Howard  oversees those newsrooms.
AMI spokesman Jon Hammond described the two employees who had formally complained about  Howard 's alleged behavior as "disgruntled."
Two former employees  one a senior manager and another a reporter in the L.A. office  agreed to be publicly identified to discuss  Howard 's behavior.
"The behavior that  Dylan  displayed and the way  he  was and the way the company dealt with it — I just think that it has to be made public because it's completely unacceptable " said Maxine "Max" Page  a former senior editor at RadarOnline. She complained to the human resources department about  Howard 's behavior on behalf of two female reporters.
 Howard  made inappropriate comments to and about one of those women  Page and six other ex-employees said.  Howard  told employees in the newsroom  he  wanted to create a Facebook account on behalf of the woman's vagina  commented on her sex life and forced her and other female employees to either watch or listen to graphic recordings of sex involving celebrities despite there being no professional rationale for doing so  they said.
A former senior editor recalled  Howard  wrongly claimed during a newsroom meeting that the woman had had sex with a journalism source and praised her for it  saying she needed to "do what you need" to get a story.
The woman  Howard  was discussing confirmed these and other incidents to the AP but declined to be identified.
Page and four other employees recounted instances in which  Howard  talked about  his  own sexual exploits  including descriptions of  his  partners' physical attributes.
Stracher  the company lawyer  said no one interviewed by the outside investigator complained about  Howard 's handling of pornographic material. Stracher said there was nothing inherently inappropriate about that in the celebrity news business.
Stracher also said no one complained to the investigator about  Howard 's alleged encouragement of a reporter to sleep with news sources.
The behavior by [TGT]currently the chief content officer of American Media Inc.   occurred while  he  was running the company's Los Angeles office  according to men and women who worked there.  Howard 's self-proclaimed nickname was "Dildo " a phallus-shaped sex toy  the former employees said.  His  conduct led to an internal inquiry in 2012 by an outside consultant  and former employees said  he  stopped working out of the L.A. office after the inquiry.
 [TGT]quit soon after the report was completed  but the company rehired  [TGT]  one year later with a promotion that landed  [TGT]  in the company's main office in New York. It was not clear whether  [TGT]faced any discipline over the accusations. AP is not aware of any sexual harassment allegations involving  [TGT]since  [TGT]  was rehired.
The AP spoke with 12 former employees who knew about the investigation into  [TGT] 's behavior  though not all were aware of every detail. The outside investigator hired to examine complaints about  [TGT] 's behavior also confirmed to AP that [TGT] completed a report.
In a brief phone interview with the AP   [TGT]characterized the ex-employees' claims as "baseless."
A lawyer for American Media confirmed Tuesday that an outside investigator was hired to look into two employees' claims about  [TGT] 's behavior.
The lawyer  Cam Stracher  said the investigation did not show serious wrongdoing. Stracher confirmed that one employee had complained that  Howard  said  he  wanted to create a Facebook account for her vagina  but Stracher said  Howard  said that never happened.
In his job   Howard  oversees those newsrooms.
AMI spokesman Jon Hammond described the two employees who had formally complained about  [TGT] 's alleged behavior as "disgruntled."
Two former employees  one a senior manager and another a reporter in the L.A. office  agreed to be publicly identified to discuss  [TGT] 's behavior.
"The behavior that  Dylan  displayed and the way  he  was and the way the company dealt with it — I just think that it has to be made public because it's completely unacceptable " said Maxine "Max" Page  a former senior editor at RadarOnline. She complained to the human resources department about  [TGT] 's behavior on behalf of two female reporters.
 Howard  made inappropriate comments to and about one of those women  Page and six other ex-employees said.  Howard  told employees in the newsroom  he  wanted to create a Facebook account on behalf of the woman's vagina  commented on her sex life and forced her and other female employees to either watch or listen to graphic recordings of sex involving celebrities despite there being no professional rationale for doing so  they said.
A former senior editor recalled  Howard  wrongly claimed during a newsroom meeting that the woman had had sex with a journalism source and praised her for it  saying she needed to "do what you need" to get a story.
The woman  Howard  was discussing confirmed these and other incidents to the AP but declined to be identified.
Page and four other employees recounted instances in which  Howard  talked about  his  own sexual exploits  including descriptions of  his  partners' physical attributes.
Stracher  the company lawyer  said no one interviewed by the outside investigator complained about  Howard 's handling of pornographic material. Stracher said there was nothing inherently inappropriate about that in the celebrity news business.
Stracher also said no one complained to the investigator about  Howard 's alleged encouragement of a reporter to sleep with news sources.