Update 11/28/16: This article has been updated to reflect additional background information.
In new audio leaked to several media outlets, UC Regent Norman Pattiz can be heard describing pubic hair and pornographic films to colleagues — just weeks after a recording surfaced in which he made lewd comments to a female colleague.
The unsolicited statements were made in May at a studio for PodcastOne, a popular online podcast platform, by the radio mogul, according to the anonymous source of the audio.
“One of my first physical sexual sensations was reaching down in somebody’s pants and feeling pubic hair,” Pattiz said, as several colleagues could be heard laughing in response. “It was an instant hard-on, holy shit.”
The anonymous source indicated they were a former independent contractor who worked with Pattiz, the founder of PodcastOne.
“I’ll tell you who wasn’t laughing,” the source said in an email. “Three of his female employees who were there at the time. The look of disgust on their face is pretty unforgettable.”
Over the course of the 80-second, most recently leaked recording, Pattiz shares several personal observations about pornographic films. One person in the room asks why he doesn’t start his own podcast “to tell stories like this.”
“Because I’m a regent of the University of California,” Pattiz replies. “I’m the chairman of the national security labs at Los Alamos and Lawrence Livermore, and I’m a 20-year reserve deputy sheriff.”
“I can’t talk that way,” he said. “I’m talking this way.”
In the wake of the vulgar recording’s release last month, several women who have worked with Pattiz have come forward with their discomfort at remarks he has made in the workplace about women’s bodies.
At the UC Board of Regents meeting earlier this month, the body unanimously approved a new policy requiring that board members comply with regents sexual harassment policy and ethical standards in private life. As a result, regents are also required to take an online sexual harassment prevention course upon appointment and biannually afterward.
Pattiz, a member of the governance and compensation committee that first heard the policy proposal, has said he has already begun the mandated course.
“There is no excuse for any such comments or making anyone feel uncomfortable,” Pattiz told the Los Angeles Times after the first recording was aired. “If I did that, I sincerely apologize, and it will be a valuable learning experience.”
A UC spokesperson was unavailable for comment.
Most regents are appointed by the governor and approved by the state Senate. Pattiz is currently serving a 12-year term on the board that expires in 2026.
The board can remove members from leadership positions or ask them to resign, but the standard for removal would generally require criminal proceedings launched by the state attorney general.
Check back for updates.
