The chief executive of NBCUniversal has left the US entertainment giant after acknowledging “an inappropriate relationship” with a colleague, parent company Comcast announced. Comcast said in a statement that it came to a “mutual decision” with Jeff Shell for him to step down “effective immediately” and “following the company’s investigation led by outside counsel into a complaint of inappropriate conduct.”
NBCUniversal, which was fully acquired by Comcast in 2013, owns a broad portfolio of television news and entertainment networks, as well as a motion picture studio, theme parks and a premium streaming service. Today is my last day as CEO of NBCUniversal,” Shell said in the Comcast statement.
He acknowledged having “had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company.” I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they are the most talented people in the business,” he added.
Shell had been with the New York-based conglomerate for just under two decades and had served as CEO since January 2020. Earlier in his career at Universal Films, Shell oversaw some of the studio’s biggest franchises such as Fast & Furious and Jurassic World.
In an internal memo to employees, shared with AFP, Comcast CEO Brian Roberts said: “We built this company on a culture of integrity. When our principles and policies are violated, we will always move quickly to take appropriate action, as we have done here.”
The memo did not name an immediate successor but said that senior executives at NBCUniversal would report directly to Comcast President Mike Cavanagh. The website of financial news channel CNBC, a part of NBCUniversal, cited unnamed sources as saying the complaint against Shell “was filed by the woman with who Shell shared the ‘inappropriate relationship.’”
Shell is the second senior executive to leave the company in the past three years over inappropriate conduct, and as Hollywood continues to clamp down on previously unchecked misbehaviour by its moguls.
In 2020, the company’s vice chairman Ron Meyer left the company after admitting to having an affair and paying the woman a settlement.
The issue has not been isolated to NBCUniversal: Jeff Zucker, the former president of CNN, abruptly left his role in February 2022 for not having disclosed a relationship with a colleague. Comcast is due to report its first quarter financial results on Thursday morning.
Source: eNCA
In other news – AKA’s mom Lynn Forbes shows love to Murdah Bongz
AKA’s mother, Lynn Forbes has come out to publicly support the new man in DJ Zinhle’s life. Lynn appeared on eNCA’s News Night, where she spoke of the aftermath of her son’s brutal murder. She also spoke about the Forbes’ interesting family dynamics.
AKA – who shares daughter Kairo with Zinhle – was shot and killed by unknown gunmen outside a Durban restaurant in February. Since the death of AKA, Zinhle’s partner Bongani has seemingly stepped into a father figure role for little Kairo. Learn more
Discussion about this post