Warner Bros launch investigation into CEO Kevin Tsujihara after sexual misconduct claims

Kevin Tsujihara (Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)
Kevin Tsujihara (Credit: AP Photo/Jae C. Hong)

An investigation into Warner Bros CEO Kevin Tsujihara has been opened, following allegations he had an affair with an actress, and then tried to get her movie roles.

WarnerMedia, the parent company of the Hollywood studio, launched the inquiry after claims made in The Hollywood Reporter.

It’s alleged that Tsujihara entered into a relationship with British actress Charlotte Kirk, while he was married, having met her through producer Brett Ratner and James Packer, the owners of production company RatPac Entertainment.

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Via leaked text messages and emails, it’s claimed that Tsujihara then began pushing for roles for Kirk, then 21, in Warner Bros movies, while RatPac was entering into a finance pact with the studio worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

“That communication and subsequent encounters between Kirk and Tsujihara drew the powerful studio chief into what Kirk repeatedly referred to as a sexual relationship,” it’s claimed in the THR report.

Charlotte Kirk attends the world premiere of Ocean’s 8 at Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, in New York. (Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)
Charlotte Kirk attends the world premiere of Ocean’s 8 at Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday, June 5, 2018, in New York. (Credit: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP)

“And from there the relationship devolved into a protracted and increasingly desperate struggle among Tsujihara, Ratner, and Packer to manage Kirk’s urgent demands to be cast in movies and TV series.”

Kirk ended up getting small parts in 2016’s How To Be Single and Ocean’s 8 in 2018, as well as landing auditions for other Warner Bros movies.

Ratner has said that Kirk was a friend, and he was merely helping her with her career and to secure auditions.

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In a statement to THR, Kirk ’emphatically den[ied] any inappropriate behaviour on the part of Brett Ratner, James Packer, and Kevin Tsujihara.”

“I have no claims against any of them,” she added.

“Through her spokesperson, the actress has publicly denied any impropriety in her casting, and our prior investigation did not find otherwise,” a spokesperson for WarnerMedia told Variety.

“Whenever we receive new allegations, it is our standard practice to conduct an appropriate investigation. And that is what we will do here.”

Tsujihara will reportedly remain in his role while the investigation takes place.

Ratner too has been the subject of allegations of sexual misconduct by multiple women, accusations which he has denied.