NBC Executive Ron Meyer Steps Down After Disclosing Affair
“Admittedly, this is a woman I had a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago,” said Meyer, 75.
(Bloomberg) -- NBCUniversal Vice Chairman Ron Meyer, one of Hollywood’s highest-profile executives, stepped down after revealing that he received extortion threats and paid a secret settlement in connection with an affair.
In a statement, Meyer said he told his family and the company that he “made a settlement, under threat, with a woman outside the company who had made false accusations against me.”
“Admittedly, this is a woman I had a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago,” said Meyer, 75.
Meyer said “other parties” learned of the settlement and tried to extort him into paying them money “or else they intended to falsely implicate NBCUniversal, which had nothing to do with this matter, and to publish false allegations about me.”
In a statement, NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell said that Meyer had “acted in a manner which we believe is not consistent with our company policies or values.”
Based on those actions, “we have mutually concluded that Ron should leave the company, effective immediately.”
Warner Bros. Chief Executive Officer Kevin Tsujihara was ousted last year over allegations that he had a sexual relationship with an actress he helped promote. The woman in that case was the same actress who had an affair with Meyer, Variety reported on Tuesday. A representative for Meyer declined to comment, and a lawyer for the actress couldn’t immediately be reached.
Meyer, once called “Hollywood’s Mr. Nice Guy,” had worked for 25 years at the entertainment company, which is now a division of Comcast Corp. He was president of Universal Studios from 1995 until he was promoted in 2013 to be NBCUniversal’s vice chairman, providing strategic guidance across the media conglomerate. In 1975, he co-founded Creative Artists Agency with fellow agents from the William Morris Agency.
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