Chris Hardwick Dropped From SDCC Panels, Festival Lineups

A day after allegations of emotional abuse and sexual assault against Hardwick by former girlfriend Chloe Dykstra, AMC has not just pulled the plug on his interview show Talking with Chris Hardwick, but he will not be moderating panels at San Diego Comic-Con or appearing at Kaboo Festival, either.

Earlier today, AMC released a statement about the allegations, noting that Talking with Chris Hardwick would not be airing on AMC while the situation was assessed as well as would not be participating in panels at San Diego Comic-Con, though the statement appeared to indicate that the decision to step back from the panels was Hardwick’s decision.

“We have had a positive working relationship with Chris Hardwick for many years,” AMC’s statement read. “We take the troubling allegations that surfaced yesterday very seriously. While we assess the situation, Talking with Chris Hardwick will not air on AMC, and Chris has decided to step aside from moderating planned AMC and BBC America panels at Comic-Con International next month.”

Hardwick had been announced earlier this week as the moderator for the Doctor Who panel and was to moderate the panel for The Walking Dead as well. Hardwick has also been dropped from Kaaboo Festival, an annual festival in California that celebrates music and comedy coming up in September. According to TMZ, the festival’s organizers will be replacing his scheduled comedy routine with another act to be determined.

The backlash is in response to Dykstra’s Medium essay “Rose-Colored Glasses: A Confession” which surfaced Friday that detailed disturbing claims that Hardwick had subjected her to severe emotional abuse during their relationship as well as pressured her into sex against her will. Following their breakup, Dykstra claimed that he even went so far as to ruin her career as he “made calls to several companies [she] received regular work from to get [her] fired by threatening to never work with them.”

“He succeeded,” she wrote. “I was blacklisted.”

Dykstra also writes in her post that she has proof to back up her allegations. You can read her post in full here.

Since the essay has gone viral, Nerdist, which Hardwick founded, removed all mention of him from their website while owners Legendary Entertainment made clear that Hardwick has had no involvement with the company for several months.

Hardwick himself responded to Dykstra’s allegations in a statement released last night.

“I was heartbroken to read Chloe’s post,” Hardwick wrote. “Our three-year relationship was not perfect — we were ultimately not a good match and argued — even shouted at each other — but I loved her and did my best to uplift and support her as a partner and companion in any way and at no time did I sexually assault her.

“When we were living together, I found out that Chloe had cheated on me, and I ended the relationship. For several weeks after we broke up, she asked to get back together with me and even told me she wanted to have kids with me, ‘build a life’ with me and told me that I was ‘the one,’ but I did not want to be with someone who was unfaithful. I’m devastated to read that she is now accusing me of conduct that did not occur. l was blindsided by her post and always wanted the best for her. As a husband, a son, and future father, I do not condone any kind of mistreatment of women.”