Warner Bros CEO, Kevin Tsujihara resigns over sexual scandal

Chief Executive Officer of the WarnerMedia’s movie and television studio, Kevin Tsujihara is leaving the company amid an investigation into allegations about an improper relationship with an actress, TOPNAIJA.NG reports.

Kevin Ken Tsujihara is a Japanese American businessman, and was chairman and CEO of Warner Bros Entertainment until recent sexual investigations. He succeeded Barry Meyer as CEO in March 2013, and as chairman in December 2013, having previously served as president of Warner Bros.

The stunning downfall of Kevin Tsujihara as the studio’s chairman-CEO came amid an investigation into misconduct involving an extramarital affair with British actress Charlotte Kirk. Allegations that Tsujihara used his clout to help secure roles for Kirk left his function as studio chief untenable in the #MeToo era, despite Kirk’s assertions that the affair was consensual.

Tsujihara’s permanent successor (or successors) will come into the role at a fraught time of expansion and reorganization for the studio and its former sibling divisions — HBO and Turner — under the WarnerMedia umbrella. Warner Bros.’ new leadership will need to be able to deftly balance the old and the new in Hollywood. The studio has to keep turning out popular TV shows and movies, but it also must navigate the digital distribution landscape and the new focus on “transmedia” franchise management to make the most of its IP-rich vaults, such as the DC Comics trove. Warner Bros. also has a big business in video games and digital content that Tsujihara helped build before he got the CEO job in 2013.