Amazon Studios Executive Suspended After Harassment Accusations

“As somebody with some power, I feel it is imperative for me to speak out," producer Isa Hackett says.
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Roy Price, the head of Amazon Studios, has been put on an immediate leave of absence following accusations that he harassed a producer for the popular series “The Man in the High Castle,” the company announced Thursday.

“Roy Price is on leave of absence effective immediately,” an Amazon spokesperson told Variety on Thursday. The statement added that the studio was also “reviewing our options for our projects we have with the Weinstein Company.”

The producer, Isa Hackett, told The Hollywood Reporter that Price used offensive language and propositioned her when they were in a cab together heading to a company party in 2015.

“You will love my dick,” she said Price told her during the ride. Hackett said she told Price she wasn’t interested.

She also said Price came up to her at the party following the cab ride as she was talking with other people and loudly yelled “anal sex” in her ear. Hackett told THR she relayed the encounter to several friends hours after the incident, and the outlet confirmed that she told at least two people about it. She also immediately reported the encounter to Amazon.

Amazon reportedly investigated the incident, which had been reported by The Information earlier this year, but Price was not placed on a leave of absence at the time.

Hackett’s interview with THR was her first on-the-record account that detailed the allegations, and she said she was partly inspired by several bombshell reports involving Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexually harassing more than a dozen women over the course of decades.

“As somebody with some power, I feel it is imperative for me to speak out,” Hackett told THR’s Kim Masters. “I want to call out [Price’s] behavior and also hold myself to a certain standard.”

Hackett, 50, is the daughter of legendary science-fiction author Philip K. Dick, who wrote the book that is the basis of “The Man in the High Castle.” She has been working on a new series based on his work called “Philip K. Dick’s Electric Dreams.”

Lisa Bloom, the attorney who had been representing Price since the allegations were first leveled, told Variety she had dropped Price as a client Thursday. Bloom was also representing Weinstein earlier this month but dropped the film executive as a client as accusations against him began to pile up.

Albert Cheng, the chief operating officer of Amazon Studios, will serve as the interim head of the division during Price’s absence. The future of two shows Amazon is developing in partnership with The Weinstein Co. is uncertain.

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