UC regent recorded asking actress if he could hold her breasts

Months after the University of California Board of Regents revoked tenure from a professor who violated UC’s sexual harassment policy, a UC regent has been recorded asking an actress at his podcast company if he could hold her breasts.

Regent Norman Pattiz is CEO of Courtside Entertainment Group, which owns PodcastOne, a site where Los Angeles personality Heather McDonald hosted her chatty “Juicy Scoop” podcast until this summer.

McDonald has resumed her podcast through a different company and went public with her story during an Oct. 26 broadcast. She said she quit PodcastOne to get away from Pattiz. She said he repeatedly commented on her appearance or joked about following her into the bathroom during her weekly visits to the recording studio. She said she had to hire a lawyer over the summer because Pattiz tried to prevent her from taking the popular podcast elsewhere.

Pattiz did not respond to The Chronicle’s requests for comments left with a relative and with UC.

McDonald’s breaking point, she said, came in early summer when Pattiz approached her as she was recording ads at the end of her podcast.

In the recording, listeners can hear Pattiz knocking on the studio door, calling out that her show is becoming more popular. McDonald is heard asking Pattiz to let her finish the ad. As she begins touting the product, a brassiere made of memory foam, she gets flustered and stumbles on the words.

“You’re making me nervous now,” she tells Pattiz. “Let me do one more.”

Pattiz says: “Wait a minute. Can I hold your breasts?”

“No,” McDonald says.

“Would that help?” Pattiz says, adding that his hands “are memory foam.”

After that, McDonald said, she quit.

Pattiz, 73, has been a regent since 2001 and was reappointed to a new 12-year term two years ago by Gov. Jerry Brown.

Pattiz is quoted in the Los Angeles Times as saying, “There is no excuse for any such comments or making anyone feel uncomfortable. If I did that, I sincerely apologize.”

Spokesmen for the regents and for Brown said no one was available to comment. It’s unclear whether the regents are required to abide by UC policies, which forbid such comments.

Sexual harassment has emerged as a bitter issue on UC campuses. As students and employees have become increasingly willing to speak out about inappropriate touching and sexual comments from faculty, executives, coaches and colleagues, UC President Janet Napolitano has begun strengthening policies and cracking down on discipline.

For faculty whose jobs are protected through tenure, however, it is the regents who have the final say on whether tenure is revoked. In the 148-year history of the university, just eight professors have lost tenure.

One was Rob Latham, an English professor at UC Riverside, whose tenure was revoked in January by the regents voting in closed session. Latham had violated UC policies on sexual harassment and drug use. When the Academic Senate’s tenure committee at UC Riverside voted to demote him and place him on two years of unpaid leave, the campus chancellor brought the matter to the regents.

McDonald was flying Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. In her podcast, she said she isn’t the only employee to leave because of Pattiz. She said she thought at first that she was responsible.

“I felt like it was because I was talking kind of edgy and dirty on the radio, and I don’t dress the most conservatively. And (Pattiz) is old. So I felt, oh, all right.

“But I knew it was wrong. ‘Old’ is not an excuse. ... Anybody in business should know that even if you’re thinking, ‘Um, could I touch your breasts?’ don’t say it. ... It makes (women) uncomfortable. It makes you shaky and nervous. It makes you feel less adequate. It hurts your confidence. It’s not flattering.”

She said she had a message to men who make such comments to women.

“We never forget.”

Nanette Asimov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: nasimov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @NanetteAsimov