Chris Hardwick Heading Back To Host ‘Talking Dead’ After Sexual Assault Investigation
Last week’s San Diego Comic-Con was missing one key component and that was Chris Hardwick, who was still absent as he faced allegations of sexual assault. Many missed his presence, but they understood why he was not there to moderate the stage for The Walking Dead, but that is about to change. AMC has now finished their investigation into the claims brought against Hardwick and has cleared him to return to Talking Dead.
Hardwick was replaced by Yvette Nicole Brown at numerous panels at Comic-Con and is still set to host the preview special for Season 9 of The Walking Dead. From there, though, it appears as if Hardwick will soon be back where he belongs.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the internal investigation into the accusations brought against Hardwick has been completed by AMC. With that, he has now been cleared to return as an on-air talent as revealed in a statement from the network.
“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.
“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.”
Chris Hardwick is set to make his official return for the Aug. 12 premiere of Talking Dead, which will have a guest appearance by Yvette Nicole Brown.
Following a thorough investigation, AMC has elected to fully reinstate Chris Hardwick for Talking Dead. https://t.co/t5gaFOP6rR pic.twitter.com/4tIckyFGbp
— ComicBook.com (@ComicBook) July 25, 2018
The allegations were brought against Chris Hardwick by actress and ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra. She claimed that not only had she been a victim of sexual assault but also emotional abuse brought upon her by Hardwick.
As reported in mid-June by Medium, the allegations brought forth by Dykstra never specifically named Chris Hardwick, but the insinuations were obvious. During this entire time, Hardwick has denied any claims of sexual assault even though he did say that his relationship with Dykstra was not “perfect.”
While Hardwick’s return to Talking Dead has been confirmed for Aug. 12, AMC has not given a date for the return of Talking With Chris Hardwick. He was also the host of The Wall on NBC and there has not been any word from that studio regarding the situation.
AMC was going to make sure that every single ounce of information was looked at and things were confirmed during its investigation into the sexual assault allegations brought against Chris Hardwick. It was not known if he would ever return to Talking Dead or anything to do with the network again, but now, he’s coming back. He may have missed out on SDCC, but fans will have him back to discuss Fear the Walking Dead mid-season and before Season 9 of The Walking Dead.
