The parent company of NBCUniversal announced that NBCUniversal chief executive Jeff Shell has resigned from the US media and entertainment behemoth following allegations of sexual harassment.
His departure comes after an external firm investigated a complaint about Mr. Shell’s behavior.
The network’s parent company, Comcast, initially cited an “inappropriate relationship” as the reason for his dismissal.
The executive issued an apology following his dismissal.
Mr. Shell said in a statement,
“I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman within the company, which I deeply regret.”
I sincerely apologize to my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues.
Comcast has not yet announced the new leader of NBCUniversal.
As a result of the investigation into his alleged conduct, the parent company announced in a statement on Sunday that Mr. Shell had “mutually agreed to depart immediately.”
An employee of a Comcast-owned channel lodged a harassment complaint against Mr. Shell, according to Comcast, which prompted the investigation, which was led by an outside attorney.
“The investigation into Mr. Shell was prompted by my client’s complaint of sexual harassment and sex discrimination,” Suzanne McKie, the staff member’s attorney based in London, told the Wall Street Journal. The BBC will not identify the accuser in order to respect her privacy.
Monday, Comcast disclosed in a regulatory filing that the investigation had uncovered evidence of sexual harassment.
The senior executives of NBCUniversal will report directly to Comcast president Mike Cavanagh until Mr. Shell’s replacement is located.
“We founded this organization on a culture of honesty. “Nothing is more important than how we treat each other,” Mr. Cavanagh and Comcast’s chief executive Brian Roberts wrote in an email sent to the entire company and obtained by the BBC.
“When our principles and policies are violated, we will always move quickly to take appropriate action, as we have done here,” they added.
The company is home to NBC, one of America’s largest television networks, CNBC, a business news channel, and Universal Pictures, a prominent Hollywood film studio.
Mr. Shell, who is married, has been with the company for nearly two decades and became the CEO of NBCUniversal in January 2020 – months later, the coronavirus pandemic shut down a large portion of the globe.
Theme parks and movie theaters were forced to close due to lockdowns, and film and television productions were halted.
During his tenure, he restructured the corporation in an effort to bring its streaming business and traditional TV operations closer together.
Comcast’s operations also include Europe’s largest pay-TV broadcaster, Sky Group, in addition to NBCUniversal.
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