Next time you're disturbed by one of today's all too common stories about college and, or pro athletes displaying incredibly bad and even criminal behavior, yet sailing right along with their careers, take a look at what Cable giant HBO has been up to for twenty years.
At first, HBO chairman and CEO Chris Albrecht only took a leave of absence to get sober after a drunken brawl with his girlfriend in Las Vegas, now he's been fired as the LA Times revealed a 1991 incident HBO bought his way out of for close to half a million bucks. But his abusive behavior doesn't end there and the fellow who oversaw the payoff and possibly others over the years, Jeffrey Bewkes, he gets to be Time Warner's next CEO.
In 1991, Time Warner Inc.'s HBO paid a settlement of at least $400,000 to a female subordinate with whom Albrecht was romantically involved after she alleged that he shoved and choked her, according to four people with knowledge of the matter who declined to be named because the payment was confidential.
Now Nikke Finke's Deadline Hollywood reports these aren't exactly isolated incidents twenty years apart.
So I'll add a bit more to Claudia Eller's account: I'm told by sources that there have been allegations of other incidents -- at least two, "but I recall three," according to one knowledgeable insider -- involving Chris Albrecht and women at HBO over the years, all quietly "handled" by the cable pay channel with no obvious career repercussions for the 22-year HBO exec who rose to become chairman/CEO.
(I)nsiders spoke to me about "Chris's wild side," especially when it comes to women, and agreed that HBO has overlooked it again and again.
The entire network should be sentenced to community service and made to run Lifetime re-runs for a season. Maybe then they wouldn't have so much money sitting around next time they want to pay off the victim of a serial abuser with a knack for programing just too good to let go - no matter how many female employees he cuffs around.
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