NBC said on Saturday that it was taken “by surprise” by accusations of abusive behavior made against Chris Hardwick by his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra, but that it has not yet made any decision about the future of Hardwick’s primetime game show “The Wall.”
Instead, the peacock network said in a statement it was “continuing to assess the situation and will take appropriate action based on the outcome.” The show is not scheduled to beginning taping its third season until September.
“These allegations about Chris Hardwick took us by surprise as we have had a positive working relationship with him,” the network’s statement read. “However, we take allegations of misconduct very seriously.”
The network did not indicate if it would conduct its own investigation of Hardwick’s behavior, or indicate the fate of Hardwick’s “The Awesome Show,” a round-up of science and tech innovations announced last year that has not yet been scheduled.
Hardwick has seen a blowback from corporate partners since Dykstra’s publication of a Medium post late Thursday that accused him of “controlling behavior” and “sexual assault” during a three-year romantic relationship that ended four years ago.
On Friday, Hardwick’s name was scrubbed from the website of Nerdist, the company he co-founded founded in February 2012, which was sold to Legendary Entertainment in July of that year.
“The company has removed all reference to Mr. Hardwick even as the original Founder of Nerdist pending further investigation,” a rep said, noting that his contract ended last December and he “had no operational involvement with Nerdist” for the previous two years.
And earlier Saturday, AMC announced that it has pulled “Talking With Chris Hardwick” from its schedule while it assesses the matter, and that Hardwick has also withdrawn as moderator on AMC and BBC America’s planned Comic-Con 2018 panels. The season premiere had been scheduled to air on Sunday.
In a carefully worded statement released late Friday, Hardwick said he is “heartbroken” and “devastated” over Dykstra’s accusations, and insisted that “at no time did I sexually assault her.”
While he vehemently denied her accusation of sexual assault, Hardwick did not address some of her other accusations about his behavior, including attempts to sabotage her career after their breakup.
Dykstra, the daughter of Oscar-winning special effects artist John Dykstra, is an actress and former on-air personality on the Nerdist YouTube network that Hardwick founded.