Chris Albrecht is officially departing Legendary TV and vacating his role as president, an insider with knowledge of the situation confirmed to TheWrap.
The executive was placed on administrative leave in October after details of his time at HBO emerged from Felix Gillette and John Koblin’s book, “It’s Not TV: The Spectacular Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO.” That book detailed allegations that he had choked former HBO executive Sasha Emerson in the summer of 1991 — months after they ended a consensual affair while both were married.
At that time, Albrecht was in charge of original programming and worked with Emerson on HBO Independent Productions. A police report was not filed at the time of the alleged incident.
The allegations found within the book were made public in October of this year, after which a spokesman for Albrecht denied the incident took place. Albrecht released his own statement, which in part said, “After more than 30 years an old, flawed story is now being refurbished and recycled for the sake of sales. I have sincerely apologized to those whom I offended with disrespect and unacceptable behavior.”
Legendary was apparently surprised by the allegations contained in the book. Albrecht joined the company in 2019 after leaving Starz, for which he was CEO.
Puck’s Matthew Belloni was first to report the news.
