In December 2018, the New York Times reported that Eliza Dushku was allegedly fired from her role on Bull after confronting Michael Weatherly regarding "jokes" about rape, spanking, and threesomes that he told her or directed toward her on the set. His behavior set the tone for other cast and crew members, who also started to make harassing comments to Dushku. Though Dushku cooperated in a mediation process with CBS, the company tried to sabotage her story: Mark Engstrom, the chief compliance officer at CBS, supplied to investigators some filming outtakes that he thought would be damning to Dushku because they showed her using curse words. Instead, this strategy backfired on CBS, because the outtakes clearly showed some of the instances of harassment and verified Dushku's version of events. Engstrom and other CBS executives were unable to recognize what he saw on the outtakes as harassment; the Times reported that the investigation determined that the company's failure to recognize the instances of harassment caught on tape was a symptom of larger problems at CBS. After that, CBS paid Dushku a $9.5 million settlement in return for her silence. Dushku honored that agreement; the New York Times discovered the story not from Dushku but from their research into the larger investigation into CBS's handling of sexual harassment in the wake of Les Moonves's firing.
In May 2019, Steven Spielberg and his company Amblin Television announced that they were pulling out of producing the show (which had been under their auspices for its first three seasons) in the wake of reports that star Michael Weatherly had harassed his former costar Eliza Dushku on the set and that CBS had attempted to cover it up.
CBS announced in January 2021 that the series will end with season 6 after Michael Weatherly tweeted that he will be leaving the show.
In November 2021, Eliza Dushku testified in front of the House Judiciary Committee about her sexual harassment accusations during her time on Bull. She said in her testimony: "In 2017, I was aggressively pursued by CBS to become a co-lead in a show called 'Bull.' I was told that the role would be a six-year commitment to play a smart, strong leading lady - a competent, high-powered lawyer meant to counter balance the existing male lead, and that the role had been written specifically with me in mind. However, in my first week on my new job I found myself the brunt of crude, sexualized and lewd verbal assaults. I suffered near constant sexual harassment from my co-star." Dushku added that Weatherly called her "legs" and talked about his sperm.
In December 2018, when the settlement was reported, Weatherly publicly apologized for the comments, saying "When Eliza told me that she wasn't comfortable with my language and attempt at humor, I was mortified to have offended her and immediately apologized." Dushku responded that Weatherly broke the terms of their settlement by speaking to the press and characterized his apology as "more deflection, denial, and spin." Pauley Perrette and Sasha Alexander, Weatherly's co-stars from NCIS, tweeted in support of him following the accusations. In August 2019, it was reported that both Weatherly and Caron were undergoing leadership training following the settlement.
In December 2018, when the settlement was reported, Weatherly publicly apologized for the comments, saying "When Eliza told me that she wasn't comfortable with my language and attempt at humor, I was mortified to have offended her and immediately apologized." Dushku responded that Weatherly broke the terms of their settlement by speaking to the press and characterized his apology as "more deflection, denial, and spin." Pauley Perrette and Sasha Alexander, Weatherly's co-stars from NCIS, tweeted in support of him following the accusations. In August 2019, it was reported that both Weatherly and Caron were undergoing leadership training following the settlement.