Longtime Hollywood executive Ron Meyer has left his job at NBCUniversal, after what he described as efforts to extort him over an affair he had with a woman.
Meyer, who has worked at Universal for 25 years, made the announcement on Tuesday.
“I recently disclosed to my family and the company that I made a settlement, under threat, with a woman outside the company who had made false accusations against me,” he said in a statement published by The Hill.
He added: “Admittedly, this is a woman I had a very brief and consensual affair with many years ago.”
Meyer stated that he chose to come forward “because other parties learned of the settlement 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.”
Meyer, 75, joined Universal in 1995, serving as the head of Universal Studios until 2013.
That year, he became NBCUniversal’s vice chairman.
Prior to that, Meyer co-founded Creative Artists Agency, a top Hollywood talent agency, in 1975.
Jeff Shell, the CEO of NBCUniversal, told The Associated Press in a statement Tuesday that Meyer “acted in a manner which we believe is not consistent with our company policies or values.”
Shell’s statement said that Meyer disclosed his actions to NBC late last week and “we have mutually concluded that Ron should leave the company, effective immediately.”
The Independent has contacted NBCUniversal for additional comment.
Additional reporting by agencies
