AMC is under pressure to pull Talking With Chris Hardwick following allegations of sexual and emotional abuse made against Hardwick by his former longtime girlfriend Chloe Dykstra, Deadline reports.
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Season 2 of Hardwick’s talk show, produced by AMC and Embassy Row, could yank its sophomore season premiere ahead of its scheduled June 17 debut.
AMC is reportedly under pressure from guests’ reps who tell the network they are now “very uncomfortable” with the Hardwick association in the #MeToo and Time’s Up era of sexual assault and sexual harassment enlightenment in Hollywood.
Some guest reps are urging AMC to at least postpone the second season until Dykstra’s claims are throughly investigated. AMC are said to be considering those requests, according to a source close to the situation.
The cable network has yet to comment on the controversies surrounding Hardwick that emerged Friday. Hardwick has long hosted live Walking Dead-centric aftershow Talking Dead for the network, where it’s aired since 2011.
Hardwick is still included on the banner for AMC’s Twitter page, where he’s situated among characters from shows like Fear The Walking Dead and Preacher.
Sunday’s planned episode, filmed more than a month ago, features Solo: A Star Wars Story actor and Childish Gambino performer Donald Glover as its guest.
The eight-episode season is also slated to feature appearances by Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom star Chris Pratt, Barry star Bill Hader, Ethan Hawke, and Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who serve as executive producers on AMC’s Preacher.
Some online commentators have already called for Hardwick to be removed from his position as host of Talking Dead and be replaced by Community star Yvette Nicole Brown, who has made more than a dozen visits to the Talking Dead couch since 2012.
Dykstra shared a lengthy account of her three-year relationship with Hardwick to Medium, where she contended she suffered sexual and emotional assault as result of Hardwick’s actions.
Hardwick, who founded Nerdist but has had no involvement with the company in recent years, had all mentions of his name scrubbed from the Nerdist site by owners Legendary Entertainment. Nerdist has since issued a response, making clear the company does not tolerate “discrimination, harassment, and other forms of abuse.”
The most recent tweet on Hardwick’s Twitter profile, published June 14, is a retweet of an ad for the season 2 premiere of Talking.
Before Dykstra’s accusations, Doctor Who announced Thursday Hardwick will serve as panel moderator for the new cast’s first-ever San Diego Comic Con appearance ahead of the latest season, which will star Jodie Whittaker as the first female iteration of the Doctor.
