Two more executives from Amazon’s film and TV production division have left the company a week after its studio head stepped down over sexual harassment claims.
On Tuesday, the departures of Joe Lewis, the head of scripted programming, and Conrad Riggs, head of streaming for the unscripted division, were confirmed by the company after first being reported by Mashable.
Neither has been publicly accused of sexual harassment and Amazon has not revealed details of their departures but they are not thought to have been connected to the scandal that is engulfing Hollywood.
Their departures however make the future of Amazon Studios all the more precarious.
Last week, Roy Price resigned after being accused of ignoring Rose McGowan’s rape claims.
Joe Lewis (left), the head of scripted programming, and Conrad Riggs (right) head of streaming for the unscripted division, have both left Amazon
He also allegedly told a lesbian producer: ‘You will love my d***’ when they worked together on a project.
Price resigned after being suspended when the claims became public as accusations against high-powered men across in the film and TV industry emerged in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein allegations.
On Tuesday, Deadline reported that Lewis’s firing may have been impacted by concerns over conflict of interest relating to his relationship with actress Yara Martinez who appears as a regular in the Amazon comedy series The Tick.
A spokesman previously confirmed Price’s resignation from the company and said: ‘We take seriously any questions about the conduct of our employees.
Roy Price, the studio head, resigned last week over accusations he sexually harassed female colleagues
‘We expect people to set high standards for themselves; we encourage people to raise any concerns and we make it a priority to investigate and address them.
‘Accordingly, we looked closely at this specific concern and addressed it directly with those involved.’
In addition to allegedly harassing producer Isa Hackett in 2015, Price was accused of demanding to know whether Big Little Lies stars Reese Witherspoon and Nicole Kidman would ‘show their tits’ in the series.
Amazon ultimately offered the two women, who created, produced and starred in the series, a development deal while other networks quickly offered a direct-to-series offer.
The show won eight Emmy Awards last month for HBO including one for Kidman in her role as a mother trapped in an abusive relationship, a part that required no nudity.
Hackett said that she first met price in July of 2015 when the two attended an event at Comic Con, telling The Hollywood Reporter that Price invited her to a party later that evening and they shared a cab to the venue.
It was during that cab ride when Price began to proposition Hackett and speak about how much she would appreciate his genitalia she claims, at which point she informed her co-worker that she was happily married to another woman and had a child.
Lewis’s departure may have been related to his relationship with actress Yara Martinez and concerns it posed a conflict of interest. Martinez appears in The Tick, one of Amazon’s series
Bank: Price paid Woody Allen $100 million is the span of just one year (l to r: Blake Lively, Roy Price, Kristen Stewart, and Woody Allen at the 2012 Cannes Film Festival)
Then, once they arrived at the party, Hackett, 50, claims that she was talking to executives from the company while Price, who is 51, ran over and loudly said: ‘Anal sex.’
Hackett, whose father is famed author Philip K. Dick, said that she told an Amazon executives what happened almost immediately, and since that time has never seen Price at one of her events.
The studio currently produces an television adaptation of her father’s series ‘The Man In High Castle.’
She also said that an investigation was carried out, but she is unsure what came of it in the end.
She welcomed his resignation last week, saying: ‘An important conversation has begun about the need to create a culture in our industry which values respect and decency and rejects the abuse of power and dehumanizing treatment of others.
‘This is truly an opportunity to find a better way forward, and ultimately toward a balanced representation of women and minorities in leadership positions.’
It was also revealed last week that Price have $80million, a ‘lavish’ amount for a poorly-reviewed six-episode series Crisis in Six Scenes.
He faced questioned over the partnership, given Allen’s past as an accused child molester, but said in 2015 Amazon’s ‘focus’ was ‘on the fact that he’s a great filmmaker and storyteller.’