<![CDATA[Ron Meyer leaving NBCUniversal after admitting to settlement over affair]]> https://usagag.com/2020/08/18/ron-meyer-leaving-nbcuniversal-after-admitting-to-settlement-over-affair/ Tue, 18 Aug 2020 17:51:33 +0000 hourly 1 https://usagag.com Ron Meyer leaving NBCUniversal after admitting to settlement over affair NBCUniversal ousted Vice Chairman Ron Meyer Tuesday after he admitted to settling a lawsuit with a woman with whom he’d had a brief “consensual affair.”

In a statement, Meyer said he disclosed the deal — which he made “under threat” — to his family and the company because it had led “other parties” to try and extort him.

“Based on Ron’s disclosure of these actions, we have mutually concluded that Ron should leave the company, effective immediately,” NBCU CEO Jeff Shell said in a statement that described Meyer’s behavior as “not consistent with our company policies or values.”

Meyer’s hasty exit brought an end to his 25-year career at NBCUniversal. His statement offered scant details about his settlement with the unnamed woman, other than that their brief and consensual affair took place “many years ago” and that she had made “false accusations” against him.

People who learned about the settlement have “continuously attempted to extort me into paying them money” by threatening to publish false claims about Meyer or falsely implicate NBCUniversal in the ordeal, he said.

“I regret what has happened and I am sorry for all the people in my life I may have let down, especially and most importantly, my family,” Meyer said.

Meyer joined NBCUniversal after founding the Creative Artists Agency and growing it into one of Hollywood’s dominant talent agencies. He started as president and chief operating officer at Universal Studios before he was promoted in September 2013.

NBCU has no current plans to replace Meyer’s position, a source close to the company said. His departure comes less than two weeks after Comcast-owned NBCU ousted top executive Paul Telegdy following a Hollywood Reporter exposé alleging that he oversaw a “toxic environment.”

The sudden shakeups followed a spate of layoffs at NBCUniversal, whose revenues sank 25.4 percent in the second quarter as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered theme parks and scuttled movie premieres.

The financial pain didn’t stop the company from sending axed staffers home in a fleet of black SUVs amid the cuts, which were expected to affect less than 10 percent of NBCU’s workforce, as The Post reported this month.

Additional reporting by Lindsey Kupfer

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