Amazon has suspended Roy Price, its point man in Hollywood and the head of its ambitious video program. It is also considering cutting ties with projects it is working on with the Weinstein Company, which fired its CEO Harvey Weinstein this week.
Amazon has suspended video boss Roy Price
The move comes after complaints from actress Rose McGowan, and new details about an incident in 2015.
Peter Kafka covered media and technology, and their intersection, at Vox. Many of his stories can be found in his Kafka on Media newsletter, and he also hosts the Recode Media podcast.
The suspension is effective immediately, according to an internal Amazon memo. Albert Cheng, a former ABC executive who joined Amazon’s video group two years ago, will be the interim head of the unit.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported that Price had been suspended.
Here’s Amazon’s statement: “Roy Price is on leave of absence effective immediately. We are reviewing our options for the projects we have with The Weinstein Co.”
The move comes on the same day that actress Rose McGowan, who says producer Harvey Weinstein raped her, called out Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos via Twitter.
McGowan said she complained to Price about Weinstein, and after that, Amazon killed a project she was working on with Price’s team. “I love @amazon but there is rot in Hollywood,” she wrote.
It also comes on the same day that TV producer Isa Hackett, who had previously accused Price of harassing her in 2015, provided more detail about the alleged incident to journalist Kim Masters in The Hollywood Reporter. Amazon had previously brought in an outside investigator to look into Hackett’s charge.
Last week, The Wall Street Journal published a critical account of Price’s track record in Hollywood, noting that the company had spent billions on programming, but with a handful of exceptions, hadn’t won plaudits or large audiences.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
