A feminist organization has condemned Skydance Media for appointing scandal-stained Jeff Shell as president of the company just a year after he left his role as CEO of NBCUniversal in the wake of an “inappropriate relationship” with now-former CNBC anchor Hadley Gamble.
UltraViolet, which bills itself as a “national organization that drives feminist cultural and political change,” issued a statement Wednesday blasting Skydance — the David Ellison-run company behind hit movies including “Top Gun: Maverick” and “Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One.”
Earlier this week, Skydance and media conglomerate Paramount reached a merger agreement that will see Ellison’s firm take control of the company whose holdings include CBS, MTV, VH1 and Black Entertainment Television.
Shell will assume the role of president of Paramount Global if and when the merger becomes official following a 45-day period during which the company can solicit and accept competing bids that exceed the $8 billion offer from Skydance.
It is deeply disappointing that one of Skydances first announcements after it confirmed that it would begin the process of acquiring Paramount Global would be to appoint a man fired for sexual harassment to the new companys top job,” Nicole Regalado, vice president of campaigns for UltraViolet, said in a statement.
Regalado called on Skydance to “reconsider its appointment” of Shell as president of the company since “doing so would send the wrong message to women that their safety and wellbeing [are] at risk.”
The Post has sought comment from Skydance.
In April last year, Comcast, the parent company of NBCUniversal, submitted papers to the Securities and Exchange Commission in which it revealed that then-CEO Shell, who was married at the time, had “engaged in inappropriate conduct with a female employee.”
Comcast said Shell’s misconduct included “allegations of sexual harassment” that were “corroborated” following an investigation.
On April 23 last year, Shell was fired by NBCUniversal “with cause.”
The news site Deadline.com identified Gamble as the woman with whom Shell was having a decade-long affair.
Gamble, the veteran journalist who was hired by CNBC in 2010 and was most recently reporting from the financial news channel’s Dubai offices, lodged a complaint in March last year accusing Shell of sexual harassment.
The Post reported at the time that Gamble filed the complaint after she learned that her contract would not be renewed.
CNBC and Gamble negotiated a financial settlement worth more than $1 million.
Before Shell was hired by Skydance, he served as an informal consultant to RedBird, the high-profile private equity firm run by managing partner Gerry Cardinale.
Cardinale formed Redbird IMI, a joint investment venture with former CNN boss Jeff Zucker, who left the cable network in 2022 after it was learned he had been carrying on a romance with a top subordinate.
Skydance has not been averse to hiring former executives who have left their previous roles due to alleged misconduct in the workplace.
In 2019, the company hired Pixar co-founder John Lasseter after he resigned a year earlier as head of animation at the Disney-owned shop in the wake of complaints of unwanted touching, kissing, hugging and grabbing of female subordinates.
Lasseter’s contract with Skydance includes “ironclad” provisions that make him financially responsible for any legal claims involving sexual harassment, according to Variety.
He also had to indemnify Skydance from any past misconduct that had yet to come to light during the due diligence process conducted by an outside law firm, which interviewed more than 20 people while gathering a report about his behavior at Pixar.
It is unclear if Skydance subjected Shell to the same scrutiny.
CBS, a Paramount subsidiary, had its own #MeToo-related reckoning in 2018 after it was learned that longtime chief executive Les Moonves was accused by several women of sexual harassment.
Moonves left the company soon afterward — ending a 20-year tenure as head of the network.
