'The company has removed all reference to Mr. Hardwick even as the original Founder of Nerdist pending further investigation,' a spokesperson for Legendary Entertainment says in a statement.
- Jun 16, 2018
AceShowbiz - Legendary Entertainment has removed any mentions of Chris Hardwick from Nerdist website after Chloe Dykstra appeared to accuse the media mogul of sexual abuse. A spokesperson for the company issued a statement regarding the issue on Friday, June 15.
"Chris Hardwick had no operational involvement with Nerdist for two years preceding the expiration of his contract in December 2017. He no longer has any affiliation with Legendary Digital Networks," the spokesperson said. "The company has removed all reference to Mr. Hardwick even as the original Founder of Nerdist pending further investigation."
Nerdist has also released a statement via Twitter. "Hey everyone. Like you, we were shocked to read the news this morning," the statement read. "Nerdist prides itself on being an exclusive company made up of a positive, diverse community of people who come together to share and discuss the things we love. That type of behavior is contrary to everything we stand for and believe in, and we absolutely don't tolerate discrimination, harassment and other forms of abuse."
— Nerdist (@nerdist) 15 Juni 2018
Hardwick has yet to respond to the removal.
Dysktra alleged in a first-person essay titled "Rose-Colored Glasses: A Confession," which was published on Medium on Thursday, June 14, that she was emotionally and physically abused by a former boyfriend. While she did not name the man she was writing about, many have interpreted the essay to be about Hardwick, whom she dated for three years.
The actress claimed her ex-boyfriend, who was nearly 20 years older than her, started establishing "rules" within their first two weeks of dating, including reserving her nights for him, not having close male friends, not speaking in public and not drinking alcohol. She said that it left her "alienated."
"[I was] terrified to piss him off, so I did what he said. Including let him sexually assault me. Regularly. I was expected to be ready for him when he came home from work," she wrote. "Every night, I laid there for him, occasionally in tears. He called it 'starfishing.' He thought the whole idea was funny." Dysktra further said that she is "still recovering from being sexually used (not in a super fun way) for three years."
Dykstra also wrote that she contemplated suicide many times after she claimed that she was yelled at if she didn't answer his calls. She explained that she began to "drift through life like a ghost" and had lost 15 pounds.
