The woman at the center of NBCUniversal vice chairman Ron Meyer’s abrupt exit is the same actress whose involvement with Warner Bros. chief Kevin Tsujihara led to the executive’s ouster last year.
Sources say Charlotte Kirk, the actress whose affair with Tsujihara had been detailed in a March 2019 Hollywood Reporter story, also had been in a romantic relationship with Meyer. In the case of Tsujihara, text messages showed that he lobbied for Kirk to be considered for a number of Warners movies, an abuse of power that led to his ouster 11 days after THR first reported on the relationship. With Meyer, Kirk’s professional trail leading back to Universal was not apparent.
It is unclear why Meyer recently disclosed the relationship to his bosses, but, according to his own statement, “other parties learned of the settlement [between Meyer and the unnamed woman] and have continuously attempted to extort me 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.” NBCU CEO Jeff Shell broke the news to staff regarding Meyer’s ouster on Tuesday, saying that Meyer “acted in a manner which we believe is not consistent with our company policies or values.”
In his own statement, Meyer admitted he had a consensual affair with a woman and that it was brief. Sources say Kirk did work for a charity that involved autism (Kirk, herself, identifies as on the autism spectrum).
“After I disclosed this matter to the company, we mutually decided that I should step down from my role as Vice Chairman of NBCUniversal,” Meyer said in a statement.
Meyer’s accusation of extortion mirrors that of Brett Ratner, who in a series of text messages that THR revealed in March 2019, suggested she was shaking down Tsujihara. Ratner, who was involved in the Tsujihara coverup and tried to run interference as Kirk’s demands for auditions became more urgent, texted her, “You can’t take back the extortion u have committed because u have sent text and emails asking for these auditions and jobs.” By contrast, Meyer implies that a third party is involved in extracting money in exchange for silence.
(Excerpt) Read more in: The Hollywood Reporter