The Hollywood executive resigned after 25 years at the company.
Our Correspondent
Ron Meyer, vice-chairman of NBCUniversal, announced on 18 August that he was stepping down. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Meyer revealed that he was being blackmailed by a woman with whom he had had an extramarital affair a few years ago.
The 75-year-old Hollywood executive said in a statement: I made this disclosure 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. 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 also stepped down as chair of the Film Academy Museum board. The Academy Museum is being launched on 30 April 2021 after being in development for years.
A report in The New York Times newspaper said their sources claimed the woman in question is 28-year-old British actress Charlotte Kirk. The actress had earlier been named in another executive's ouster. Last year, Warner Bros chairman Kevin Tsujihara resigned after his involvement with Kirk became public knowledge.
Meyer co-founded the talent agency Creative Artists Agency (CAA) in 1975 which helped A-list clients like Meryl Streep and Tom Cruise.
He joined Universal Studios in 1995 as president and chief operating officer and was promoted to vice-chairman in 2013. Under his tenure at the studio, he was responsible for award-winning films like Erin Brockovich (2000) and Gladiator (2000) and hits like The Fast And The Furious (2001) and Despicable Me (2010).