‘The Four’ Judge Charlie Walk Calls Sexual Harassment Claims “False”
January 30, 2018
‘The Four’ Judge Charlie Walk Calls Sexual Harassment Claims “False”
Charlie Walk is calling accusations of sexual harassment made today by a former record company executive against him both “untrue” and “false.”
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“It is very upsetting to learn of this untrue allegation made by someone who worked with me 15 years ago, without incident,” asserted The Four: Battle For Stardom judge after Life Lab founder Tristan Coopersmith went online to describe an escalating pattern of apparently very inappropriate behavior by the current Republic Records boss back when he was at Sony Music. “There has never been a single HR claim against me at any time during my 25+ year career, spanning three major companies,” Walk added Monday night. “I have consistently been a supporter of the women’s movement and this is the first time I have ever heard of this or any other allegation — and it is false.”
In her open letter posted today, Coopersmith detailed how Walk would supposedly invite her into his corporate office and make lewd comments. She also described her claims how the exec would send her sexually explicit text messages, grope her at business dinners and, on one occasion, drunkenly attempted to push her into bed with him.
“While it appears this blog post relates to the period prior to Mr. Walk’s appointment to his position at Republic Records, we take the allegations very seriously and intend to conduct a full and complete review of this matter,” said Republic parent company Universal Music this evening.
As the January 4 premiering Sean “Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled and singer-songwriter Meghan Trainor co-judged The Four heads into its final week of taping on the competition series’ first season. Fox are also looking into the claims, as companies tend to do initially.
“We have only recently learned of these past allegations regarding Mr. Walk,” the Murdoch-owned network said late Monday. “We are currently reviewing this matter and are committed to fostering a safe environment on all of our shows.”
Pitting established artists against newbies, the Fegie hosted The Four airs on Thursday from 8 – 10 PM.