Chris Albrecht He was placed on administrative leave from his position as President legendary Television has emerged following new details from its HBO days from the upcoming book It’s Not TV: The Amazing Rise, Revolution, and Future of HBO by Felix Gillette and John Coplin.
The book covers how Albrecht choked former HBO CEO Sasha Emerson in the summer of 1991 — months after ending their consensual relationship when they were married. A spokesman for Albrecht denied the incident. No police report was submitted.
At the time, Albrecht was responsible for original programming and worked with Emerson at HBO Independent Productions.
“After more than 30 years, a defective story is now being refurbished and recycled for sales,” Albrecht said in a statement submitted to Deadline. “I have sincerely apologized to those I offended by disrespect and unacceptable behaviour. But this does not sell books and does not generate media interest. Some things really age well; but bad reports do not.”
A rep for Legendary confirmed to Deadline that Albrecht is on vacation, declining further comment.
THR He was the first to report on Albrecht.
The book deals with how Emerson fought a mediation with HBO and ended up taking a settlement before leaving the network. HBO’s board of directors was not informed of the settlement and the employees were not informed of why Emerson had left the company.
The book was released by Penguin Random House on November 1.
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