Author Topic: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?  (Read 1408 times)

Offline BenEatsRice

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Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« on: November 19, 2018, 02:03:39 PM »
Got some alerts this week in my podcast app that showed new episodes of ID10T w/ Chris Hardwick. Looks like he started back up this past Friday (2018.11.16) with guest Jamie Lee Curtis. I always thought he was a great entertainer and SDCC Panel Moderator/Host. I never could find any definitive answers on how the emotional/sexual abuse accusations by his ex-girlfriend turned out. Does anyone have any news/reference? Not sure where this ended up and apparently my google skills haven't shown me anything with much substance either. Mostly just speculative stuff. Here are a couple quotes I found interesting though.

Quote
“Following a comprehensive assessment by AMC, working with Ivy Kagan Bierman of the firm Loeb & Loeb, who has considerable experience in this area, Chris Hardwick will return to AMC as the host of ‘Talking Dead’ and ‘Talking with Chris Hardwick,'” an AMC spokesman told TheWrap. “We take these matters very seriously and given the information available to us after a very careful review, including interviews with numerous individuals, we believe returning Chris to work is the appropriate step.”
That makes me think they found nothing definitive about the allegations.

Quote
If his wife, and several ex-girlfriends backed him up, then he clearly has no history of what she's claiming. If he had treated any other women even close to how she described, they would've been coming out of the woodwork by now. Sounds like she was lying. At least completely embellishing the truth that they had fights and arguments. She was the one cheating, and she also pleaded for him to take her back. Just saying all of this without naming him, in some ominous essay, clearly had intent to do damage to him, considering the current climate with #MeToo. She knew it would, and assumed that she would automatically be believed, which she was by many. lf she didn't intend to cause him problems, then she would've been way more vague, or not even write the thing to begin with. If it was solely to get it off her chest, then she could've done so without all the evidence to point to Hardwick.
This one was in the comments thread of one of the news articles I read.

These quotes make me think he is innocent, but I may also be biased that way since I enjoyed him as a moderator, etc. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
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Offline Transmute Jun

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #1 on: November 19, 2018, 02:26:43 PM »
It is my understanding that AMC did an investigation and found no evidence that he had committed any wrongdoing, which is why he was reinstated. Innocent until proven guilty. Chris also resumed moderating duties at New York Comic Con.

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #2 on: Today at 04:13:51 PM »

Offline CaseyJones14

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #2 on: November 19, 2018, 02:29:43 PM »
It's always difficult to judge situations like this especially if you aren't one of the two people involved, but it does seem strange if she was cheating on him.
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Offline BenEatsRice

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #3 on: November 20, 2018, 09:07:09 AM »
Found this article today which was more revealing than any of the others I have read. Especially since it had their actual text messages.
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Offline NCDS

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #4 on: November 20, 2018, 11:52:41 AM »
Personally, AMC's investigation means nothing to me.  They looked into it enough that they can't be legally liable for anything, which is all they are required to do. 

I know people who work in the industry and confirmed he blacklisted her career.  To me, that is enough to know what type of person he is.  The fact that female executives left Talking Dead after he was reinstated also says a lot.

I stopped watching talking dead and no longer support him.  A lot of that has to do with how he handled his denial.  I just didn't feel like he handled it well.

Also, texts can be faked. So either people are faking text or Chris Hardwick is going for an all-time low by releasing them.   
« Last Edit: November 20, 2018, 11:55:20 AM by NCDS »
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Offline semigeekgirl

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #5 on: November 20, 2018, 12:01:39 PM »
I agree with [member=2339]NCDS[/member] on all points. I don't think he should be prosecuted or anything, but he'll never seem anything but skeevy and gross to me now, and I won't watch him or support his projects.

Offline Angel_

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #6 on: November 26, 2018, 12:45:02 PM »
Agreeing with NCDS and semigeekgirl.  People who worked with him at Nerdist believed these accusations quickly.  And since they worked with him, I'd consider this an indication of what type of person he's in.  Also, just because he didn't abuse his wife or some ex girlfriends doesn't mean he didn't abuse others.  That's not a strong argument.  But it doesn't matter to me.  AMC can hire him back.  Conventions can have him host things.  I personally can't support him because I feel the accounts against him are just as valid as the accounts for him.  Your mileage clearly may vary.
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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #7 on: November 27, 2018, 02:06:52 PM »
I watch comicbook.com for my Talking the Walking Dead fix. There is real enthusiasm there and no drama.

Offline perc2100

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #8 on: November 30, 2018, 01:28:33 PM »
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Got some alerts this week in my podcast app that showed new episodes of ID10T w/ Chris Hardwick. Looks like he started back up this past Friday (2018.11.16) with guest Jamie Lee Curtis. I always thought he was a great entertainer and SDCC Panel Moderator/Host. I never could find any definitive answers on how the emotional/sexual abuse accusations by his ex-girlfriend turned out. Does anyone have any news/reference? Not sure where this ended up and apparently my google skills haven't shown me anything with much substance either. Mostly just speculative stuff. Here are a couple quotes I found interesting though.
That makes me think they found nothing definitive about the allegations.
This one was in the comments thread of one of the news articles I read.

These quotes make me think he is innocent, but I may also be biased that way since I enjoyed him as a moderator, etc. Anyone have any thoughts on this?
1) I don't watch any of his shows anyway (never have - I honestly am not interested in AMC producing an extra 60 minute pseudo-commercial for TWD).  I do think he's been pretty great as a moderator over the years at Comic-Con.  I didn't necessarily miss him last year though: I was never sitting in a panel, or specifically the Walking Dead panels, and thought, "oh, I wish this were Hardwick moderating."  I think he's one of the gold standards for moderators, for sure, but moderating is not a big deal to me in the grand scheme of life.
I say that just to transparently state that I'm generally not that interested in Chris Hardwick as an entertainer very much.

2) I think these types of things are often 'he said-she said.'  I don't know details of all of the accusations, but I have heard from some insider friends up in L.A. in the industry that behind-the-scenes Hardwick at the absolute least was capable of at least some of the things he's accused of, if not totally did them (the 'blacklisted' part for sure - from what I've been told).  While all of that is also 'he said-she said' type of stuff, it's more evidence to me that Hardwick at the least is a shadyish person, or at the very least has those capabilities.

That being said, I don't care about his professional work for the most part anyway (though, I am a fan of HOUSE OF 1000 CORPSES  :P) so it's not like I would boycott what I already don't watch.  I don't begrudge any of his fans for taking his side over the alleged victim at this time either; and if he's moderating panels at Comic-Con in July I won't skip the panels because of him.

Offline JKingoftheNerds

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Re: Thoughts on Chris Hardwick?
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2018, 09:36:28 PM »
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Straight from Chloe's mouth--and that's pretty much all I need to know about AMC's "internal investigation." Between this, the fact that Chloe Dykstra spent years saying the same thing on Reddit before the article was ever released, and the fact that a number of staff members left Talking Dead after the allegations came out, I have no interest in supporting his work anymore.