AMC, Chloe Dykstra, Chris Hardwick, Fear the Walking Dead, NBC, sexual assault, sexual harassment, Talking Dead, The Walking Dead, TV, Yvette Nicole Brown
July 25, 2018
by Colleen McGregor
Chris Hardwick is returning to hosting duties at AMC after being suspended while the network conducted an investigation into allegations that he sexually abused his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dkystra. AMC has announced that Hardwick will return as host of “Talking Dead” on August 12, 2018.
On June 14, 2018, actress/model Dykstra posted an essay on Medium claiming that an unnamed ex-boyfriend (who was obviously Hardwick) inflicted sexual and verbal abuse on her during their relationship. Dykstra and Hardwick dated from 2011 to 2014. Hardwick, 47, denied the allegations, but AMC suspended him and his talk show “Talking With Chris Hardwick” (which had been scheduled to premiere that month) while conducting the investigation. In the aftermath of the allegations, Hardwick had his scheduled appearances (including moderating AMC panels) cancelled at Comic-Con International in San Diego and the San Diego Music-Comedy Festival. After Dykstra (who is 29) made her accusations, Hardwick’s wife Lydia Hearst and his ex-girlfriends Jacinda Barrett, Janet Varney and Andrea Savage all made statements to publicly support him and declare that Hardwick is not abusive.
AMC issued this statement: “Following a comprehensive assessment by AMC, working with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Loeb, who has considerable experience in this area, Chris Hardwick will return to AMC as the host of ‘Talking Dead’ and ‘Talking with Chris Hardwick.’ We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step.”
Actress/comedian Yvette Nicole Brown, a frequent “Talking Dead” guest, replaced Hardwick at Comic-Con as moderator of the AMC panels that he would normally moderate. She will be a guest host of “Talking Dead” when the show returns on Aug. 5, 2018.
Hardwick also hosts the NBC game show “The Wall.” NBC said it would investigate Dysktra’s allegations, and has made no further comment. It appears that NBC will keep him as host of “The Wall.”