Judd Apatow Wants 'Monster' Les Moonves in Prison Over Sexual Assault Allegations, Kathy Griffin Lashes Out at Julie Chen

Les Moonves' TV star wife Julie Chen was MIA from Monday's season premiere of "The Talk," which dove head first into the scandal in wake of Moonves stepping down from his longtime position as CBS CEO.

Sharon Osbourne led the discussion and kicked it off by explaining Chen's absence. "As you all know, Julie's husband is in the news and she's taking off time to be with her family," she said, which was in line with Chen's own statement.

"I am taking a few days off from 'The Talk' to be with my family. I will be back soon and will see you Thursday night on 'Big Brother,'" Chen said.

Osbourne proceeded to praise Chen before responding to the disturbing sexual assault allegations against Moonves. "I want to say that whatever times I've had of hardship, Julie has always been there for me. She's been a friend, she's someone who I admire and respect greatly. It's very embarrassing and upsetting to have to talk about her husband, but we do, we feel it's right," she continued, adding that she only knew Moonves on a "superficial" level.

"I was asked a couple of months ago to make a statement supporting Leslie, which I felt I was as diplomatic as I could be with the statement that I made," she said, likely alluding to a now-deleted tweet from July, after the first wave of accusers spoke out. "Now, after 7 more women have come out, the stories are so similar, the pattern is so similar, for me, he's not been convicted of any crime, but obviously the man has a problem."

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Judd Apatow thinks Leslie Moonves should be imprisoned over the sexual assault allegations Ronan Farrow reported in a second New Yorker exposé about the now-former CBS executive, and Kathy Griffin thinks his wife Julie Chen is a "bitch."

The veteran comedians are among the Hollywood stars speaking out against Moonves in wake of Farrow's work sparking CBS to part ways with its former CEO, who has been with the network for over two decades.

"Les Moonves should be in prison," Apatow tweeted late Sunday while sharing the executive's statement, which you can read in its entirety below. In another tweet, Apatow added, "This is so awful. Please take the time to read the details about what Les Moonves did. Imagine what kind of monster sexually harasses and assaults his own doctor out of the blue at a check up. He should be listed as a sex offender and shouldn't get a penny. All to charity."

Griffin took to Twitter to praise Farrow's report -- containing stories of six more women with disturbing allegations against Moonves, including forced oral sex and career retaliation -- and spoke out against the executive's TV star wife, Julie Chen, who leads "The Talk" on CBS.

"Julie Chen has always been nice to me and I had no reason to believe that she knew about her husband assaulting women before they got married. So I reached out to her and told her I would love to come on her show and I didn't need to make it about her husband/CBS," Griffin tweeted. "She never got back to me...but I figured she was just swamped with the scandal and didn't think anything of it. Then, several days ago I learned of how Julie has treated people from folks that I know personally."

Rachel Bloom, the star and co-creator of CW's "Crazy Ex-Girlfriend," gave her two cents on the situation shortly after Farrow's piece was published Sunday.

"As an employee of CBS, I would just like to say that Les Moonves should be fired without getting a f--king dollar. The actions described in this article are those of sexual assault and shame on anyone else in the corporation who knew about his crimes," Bloom tweeted.

Hours later, Farrow reported "CBS confirmed that Moonves is leaving with no exit compensation pending outcome of investigation, and that he and CBS will donate $20 million to #MeToo charities," and Bloom tweeted, "Good. CBS: in the spirit of the new year, let's make this the beginning of a new era."

"CBS This Morning" anchor Norah O'Donnell reacted on the air Monday morning. "This is really hard. It is. It's hard for everybody at CBS News," she said. "The most powerful media executive in America has now resigned because of the #MeToo movement and he's my boss. Or he was my boss. So that makes it really hard to comment on it. Les has always treated me fairly and with respect."

She went to sum up a conversation she had with co-anchor Gayle King, who was off today, about how they went through this 10 months ago with former co-anchor Charlie Rose being booted from CBS over sexual misconduct allegations.

"But here's what I said back then and I think it still holds and I want to say it again: There is no excuse for this alleged behavior," O'Donnell said. "It's systematic, and it is pervasive in our culture. And this I know is true, to the core of my being: Women cannot achieve equality in the workplace or society until there is a reckoning and a taking of responsibility."

"So, I am really proud to work here at CBS News. This has hurt morale, but there are some really, really good people that come to work every single day," she continued. "As a journalist, I am confident that the truth is going to come out, because this is being investigated. There are two prominent investigations going on by some really good lawyers. This has to end. The story will continue."

Moonves told The New Yorker that he recognized three of the sexual encounters detailed in the article, but said they were consensual and did not specify which ones.

"The appalling accusations in this article are untrue. What is true is that I had consensual relations with three of the women some 25 years ago before I came to CBS. And I have never used my position to hinder the advancement or careers of women," he said. "In my 40 years of work, I have never before heard of such disturbing accusations. I can only surmise they are surfacing now for the first time, decades later, as part of a concerted effort by others to destroy my name, my reputation, and my career. Anyone who knows me knows that the person described in this article is not me."

After the story was published, the network stated, "CBS takes these allegations very seriously. Our Board of Directors is conducting a thorough investigation of these matters, which is ongoing."

One of the most shocking allegations came from a former television executive who worked with Moonves at Lorimar-Telepictures in the late '80s.

Phyllis Golden-Gottlieb told authorities in a criminal complaint filed late last year that Moonves forced her to perform oral sex on him in a car and then later exposed himself to her and violently threw her against a wall in another incident.

During an appearance on "Good Morning America" Monday morning, she said she was "frightened" of Moonves at the time and didn't speak up at the time because she was a single mother raising two children. She also reiterated allegations of physical violence on top of sexual assault and harassment.

"He really hurt my career," she told George Stephanopoulos. "Right after he appeared naked, he came running into my office and did this whole thing that I dind't send the memo to anybody, then he picked me up and threw me against the wall. I just laid on the floor and cried, I didn't know what was going to happen to me."