Amazon Exec Resigns After Lesbian Producer Accuses Him of Harassment

Roy Price, suspended as head of Amazon Studios last week after producer Isa Hackett went public with allegations that she was sexually harassed by him, resigned from the company Tuesday, USA Today reports.

Hackett, an executive producer of Amazon programs The Man in the High Castle and Philip K. Dick's Electric Dreams,told The Hollywood Reporter last week of her harassment by Price during a taxi ride and party in 2015. She said his comments included "You will love my dick" and "Anal sex!" and that he persisted even though she made it clear she was not interested, pointing out among other things that she is a lesbian and married to a woman.

She reported the incident to Amazon management shortly afterward, and the company hired a consultant to do an investigation. She never learned what came of the investigation but didn't encounter Price again, and the company told the Reporter that officials had "addressed [the matter] directly with those involved." But the publication of her interview last Thursday was followed by Price's suspension the same day.

Hackett had been reluctant to discuss the incident publicly but decided to do so after other women came forward with accusations of sexual harassment, assault, and rape by film mogul Harvey Weinstein.

"I feel inspired by the other women who have been far braver than I am, who have come forward," she told the Reporter last week. She said one thing that can help change the "culture of harassment" in Hollywood is "an infusion of new and diverse leadership, not just including women but gay people, people of color, people with disabilities -- people with the full spectrum of life experience."

Hackett is the daughter of the late author Philip K. Dick; both of her programs are based on his writings. Dick is best known for the novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which was adapted into the 1982 film Blade Runner and inspired the recently released sequel Blade Runner 2049.