Charlie Walk is the president of Republic Records and a judge on Fox’s music competition show The Four. On Monday, he was accused in an open letter of sexual harassment and misconduct by a former employee named Tristan Coopersmith, and since then another woman has come forward saying she had similar inappropriate experiences with the music-industry executive. Walk was placed on leave from Republic Records as the company brings in outside counsel to “conduct an independent investigation of this matter,” saying that they encourage “anyone who has relevant information to speak to the firm’s investigators.” Now, Walk has provided a statement to Vulture tendering his resignation from the show.
Out of respect for the contestants, my fellow judges and everyone involved with the show, I have made the decision not to attend the finale of The Four. I do not want my presence to be a distraction. Needless to say this is very upsetting. Although I continue to support the ‘Me Too’ movement, there has been an extreme rush to judgment against me in this particular case which is unfair and inconsistent with anything that even actually happened. I welcome any investigation so that in short order these unfounded and hurtful accusations can be put to rest.”
Though Walk will not participate in next week’s live season finale of The Four, Variety reports he will appear as usual on this week’s episode since it had already been taped before the accusations came to light. The future of the show is unclear, and it had not yet been officially picked up for a second season. Walk maintains that he never behaved inappropriately, and said in a statement, “I have consistently been a supporter of the women’s movement and this is the first time I have ever heard of this or any other allegation — and it is false.”
This post has been updated.
