Oprah Winfrey Sued Over Accusations of Sex On Her Private Jet
Oct. 10 2009, Published 7:14 a.m. ET
A flight attendant has filed suit alleging she was fired by Oprah Winfrey's company, Harpo, Inc. as a result of a false accusation she and a married pilot had sex on the plane while Oprah napped.
Corrine Gehrls has sued Harpo, Inc. and fellow flight attendants Myron Gooch and Kirby Bumpus for the claimed wrongful termination. In her legal filing, Gehrls says she and Chief Pilot Terry Pansing had a on-going dispute with Gooch over work schedules. It became so heated, Gooch "recruited" Bumpus to join him in a plot to get the two fired. Bumpus is the daughter of Oprah's best friend Gayle King.
According to the document, "Gooch and Bumpus falsely told Winfrey and Harpo that on the June 14, 2009 Harpo flight, the passengers on which included Winfrey and Bumpus, Pansing and Gehrls had been observed having inappropriate intimate conduct outside the cockpit of the plane." The pair was terminated July 7.
Pansing and Gooch, on the advice of their respective attorneys, took polygraph examinations which they say proved they were truthful in their insistence they hadn't joined the Mile High Club on Oprah's plane. They presented the test results to Winfrey but she refused to reinstate them.
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Gooch's lawsuit says that Pansing has separately settled the matter with Harpo, Inc. She wants at least $300,000 in damages.