Charlie Walk—the record label executive who was recently put on leave at Republic Group, where he is president, and removed from his position as judge on the Fox singing competition The Four after being accused of workplace harassment in a blog post written by a former employee—has had further allegations levied against him by at least five women in a new story published by Rolling Stone.
The women, all one-time employees of labels (Columbia Records and Republic Records) where Walk has been an executive, say that Walk engaged in inappropriate physical and verbal contact with them on a near daily basis both inside and outside of the office. One woman, an ex-promotions manager at Columbia named Pam Kaye, described Walk attempting to fondle her during a car ride in 2004 in which others were present.
“He took his hand and put it down the front of my pants,” Kaye, 44, tells Rolling Stone. “I had to subtly try to get his hand away. It’s like a game. He would test the limits as much as he could.” Kaye says she discreetly batted Walk’s hand away, hoping the others in the car wouldn’t notice, but Walk persisted and his hand went underneath her underwear.
Another woman, Kate Harold, who at the time was Walk’s executive assistant, says that she attended a dinner with Walk and some of his friends and business associates in 2006. She says that at one point during the dinner she got up to use the restroom, and upon exiting was confronted by Walk, who she says began kissing her and pressing his erect penis on her.
“Shortly into the dinner, I went to the restroom,” Harold, 38, tells Rolling Stone. “When I came out, he was standing right outside the restroom alone… Before I could do anything, he forced his lips on mine with a quick, hard kiss and then rubbed his crotch up against me, letting me basically feel that he had an erection.”
Others state that Walk leveraged his status to take advantage of them during prospective conversations about jobs. Two women tell Rolling Stone that they believed Walk was only interested in looking at their bodies during job interviews, while another says that Walk sent her photos of his exposed penis on Snapchat after she engaged him looking for career advice.
Walk denied all of the incidents to Rolling Stone, just as he did the initial allegations against him that first surfaced in a blog post written by an ex-employee named Tristan Coopersmith. Rolling Stone reports that nearly all sources they spoke to described Walk’s behavior as an “open secret” at both of the labels where he worked, and the story includes multiple allegations of misconduct—including groping and Walk exposing his penis— that is alleged to have happen at work. Spokespeople for both Columbia and Republic say they were unaware of Walk’s behavior.
UMG has retained outside counsel to conduct an investigation into the allegations brought against Walk in the weeks prior to this. Spin has reached out to UMG for comment and will update this story should they reply.
