Amazon Studios head departs amidst swirl of sexual harassment claims
Amazon Studios boss Roy Price has tendered his resignation in the face of allegations from a producer that she was sexually harassed by him in the back of a car and another actress who complained that he took no action when told that she had been the victim of a sex assault perpetrated by Harvey Weinstein.
Amazon Studios head departs amidst swirl of sexual harassment claims
Price has been on a leave of absence since the allegations first broke last week, handing over responsibility for day-to-day duties to chief operating officer Albert Cheng in the short term.
An avalanche of accusations levelled against Weinstein have opened the floodgates to similar complaints elsewhere, with Price being the highest profile casualty so far. Price came undone when producer Isa Hackett came forward to allege that she had been subject to unwanted sexual advances from Price in 2015.
Addressing the scandal on Tuesday, Hackett wrote: “I‘m pleased Amazon is taking steps to address the issues. An important conversation has begun about the need to create a culture in our industry which values respect and decency and rejects the abuse of power and dehumanizing treatment of others.”
Amazon has not yet commented on who might serve as a full replacement for Price but whoever does so will be in a position to pull the purse strings on $4.5bn of investment in video content this year alone.
This largesse has seen it begin to experiment with VR content.