Eva Longoria, Shonda Rhimes, and Jurnee Smollett Step Down From Time's Up Board

Several members on the board of Time's Up will be stepping down in order for the group to "refocus" its leadership to "suit its mission and needs."

Among those who will be exiting their roles within the next month are Shonda Rhimes, Eva Longoria and Jurnee Smollett, the sister of Jussie Smollett, who has been charged for staging a hate crime, according to NBC News. Interim CEO Monifa Bandele, along with an outside consultant, will be overseeing the changes within the organization, which fights for gender equality and advocates on behalf of sexual abuse victims. 

Four existing board members— Colleen DeCourcy, Raffi Freedman-Gurspan, Ashley Judd and Gabrielle Sulzberger— will remain while Longoria, Rhimes and Smollett, along with Nina Shaw, Hilary Rosen, Katie McGrath, Christy Haubegger and Ana Navarro will all be resigning. 

"It is crucial to us as a board that the organization remain in service to this seismic, global work to demand equity and disrupt systems that foster discrimination, harassment and abuse," the group said in a statement. "We see the current crisis within TIME’S UP as an important opportunity for growth and change."

Time's Up Chairwoman Roberta Kaplan recently resigned after a report said she had counseled Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration when the first allegations of sexual harassment were made against him. Time's Up CEO and President Tina Tchen soon after stepped down amid similar revelations. 

"Now is the time for TIME’S UP to evolve and move forward as there is so much more work to do for women. It is clear that I am not the leader who can accomplish that in this moment," Tchen wrote in her resignation statement.

"I am especially aware that my position at the helm of TIME’S UP has become a painful and divisive focal point, where those very women and other activists who should be working together to fight for change are instead battling each other in harmful ways. Therefore, it is time for me to resign and continue to work for change in other ways, and to let TIME’S UP engage in the thoughtful and meaningful process I know will occur to move forward."

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