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Chris Hardwick’s Return to ‘Talking Dead’ Leads to Departure of Female Executive, Several Staffers

He was reinstated following an investigation into claims of abuse.
Chris HardwickAMC presents 'Talking Dead' special edition for 'The Walking Dead' Season 7 TV series, Los Angeles, USA - 23 Oct 2016
Chris Hardwick
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Chris Hardwick is returning to “Talking Dead” this weekend, but one executive producer and several staffers won’t be. TheWrap reports that a female EP has chosen to depart the “Walking Dead” after-show along with a “handful” of its 25 or so staffers now that Hardwick has been reinstated following AMC‘s investigation into claims of abuse made by his ex-girlfriend Chloe Dykstra.

Dykstra, who wasn’t involved in that investigation, wrote an essay in June in which she detailed an abusive, years-long relationship with a man whom readers quickly deduced was Hardwick. “I was expected to be [sexually] ready for him when he came home from work” whether she wanted to or not, she claimed. “Every night, I laid there for him, occasionally in tears.”

Hardwick has denied Dykstra’s accusations, writing that their relationship “was not perfect” but that “at no time did I sexually assault her.”

Neither the female executive nor the staffers leaving “Talking Dead” have shared their names as of yet. Now that Hardwick’s name has been returned to the Nerdist website, writer Donna Dickens has also left.

IndieWire has reached out to AMC for comment.

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