Nerdist owner Legendary Entertainment removed all website references to Chris Hardwick on Friday after his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra appeared to accuse the “Talking Dead” host of abuse and derailing her career.
“Chris Hardwick had no operational involvement with Nerdist for the two years preceding the expiration of his contract in December 2017,” a Legendary Entertainment spokeswoman told TheWrap via a statement. “He no longer has any affiliation with Legendary Digital Networks.”
“The company has removed all reference to Mr. Hardwick even as the original Founder of Nerdist pending further investigation,” the rep continued.
Dykstra detailed her accusations Thursday in an essay posted to Medium. Though she does not specifically name Hardwick in the piece, the timing and key details suggest that she is referring to the “@Midnight” alum, who built his love of geekdom into a veritable empire through Nerdist Industries.
In her essay, titled “Rose-Colored Glasses: A Confession,” the 29-year-old said that when she was in her early twenties she dated a man “almost 20 years my senior” who displayed what she called “controlling behavior” — including ordering her to remain in their hotel room while he attended parties at San Diego Comic-Con.
Dykstra, who co-hosted the cosplay show “Just Cos” on Nerdist’s YouTube channel, said she was “quickly pressured to take an on-camera job at his company I didn’t want.”
She also accused the man of pressuring her into sex against her will, though she wrote, “To be fair, I did go along with it out of fear of losing him.”
Dykstra wrote that “after three years of being snapped/yelled at constantly, very rarely being shown any affection- I finally left him.”
But Dykstra said that after the breakup, the man “made calls to several companies I received regular work from to get me fired by threatening to never work with them. He succeeded. I was blacklisted.”
Read more from Dykstra here.
Reps for Hardwick have not yet responded to TheWrap’s request for comment.