NBCUniversal execs shocked by ‘low key’ Jeff Shell’s sex scandal
They’re Shell-shocked!
Sources say top NBCUniversal executives were stunned by the revelation that the media giant’s CEO was embroiled in a sex scandal.
On Sunday, Jeff Shell resigned from his top spot at the company after Hadley Gamble — a journalist at CNBC, one of the news networks owned by NBCUni — accused him of sexual harassment.
He admitted to having an “inappropriate relationship” with the employee.
But sources at the company told Page Six there “hadn’t been a whisper of an affair” involving Shell around the company.
“Barely anybody knew there was even an investigation,” said an insider, “and even fewer knew there had actually been an affair.”
The understanding around HQ is that the relationship between married Shell and Middle East-based Gamble began before he was named CEO of the company, which oversees Universal Pictures, NBCUniversal News Group (which includes NBC News, CNBC and MSNBC) and NBCUniversal Television and Streaming (which includes NBC and Bravo), among other media companies.
One insider said he didn’t seem like the type to be involved in a workplace fling. “He was always very respectful, and respectful of women in particular,” said one stunned staffer.
Insiders aren’t even sure how Shell and Gamble might’ve met, since she’s based in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates.
One speculated it may have been at the annual World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, since it’s a major event for the business-centric CNBC. Shell did attend at least once, in 2013, when he was quoted on his thoughts on the ticketing for the Olympics.
Shell resigned on Sunday. He released a statement saying, “I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret. I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down.”
Shell has been with company for decades, and became CEO in 2020.
In a statement to Variety, Gamble’s attorney said she had lodged a complaint against Shell for sexual harassment and sex discrimination.
“The investigation into Mr. Shell arose from a complaint by my client of sexual harassment and sex discrimination,” Suzanne McKie of Farore Law told the trade paper.
Shell is married to Laura Fay Shell and, according to an NBCUni insider, they have two children.
Gamble previously made news when she was accused by Russian state media of acting like a “sexual object” to distract Russian President Vladimir Putin, with state outlets even suggesting she was part of a US “special operation.”
A rep for NBCUni didn’t get back to us.
