A former NBC Universal Media LLC employee is suing the company, alleging he was wrongfully terminated from his job as an assistant in 2024 for speaking out about possible illegal activities by a vice president he says coerced him into a sexual relationship.
Tyler Adkins, 27, filed the lawsuit Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging a variety of causes of action ranging from whistelblower retaliation, assault and battery to sexual harassment and multiple state Labor Code violations. Among the individual defendants is Chris Herzberger, NBCUniversal’s vice president of live theatricals.
Adkins seeks unspecified compensatory and punitive damages. An NBCUniversal representative did not immediately reply to a request for comment.
According to the suit, Herzberger contacted Adkins through Instagram in March 2021 and the plaintiff hoped he would be eventually offered a job. However, Herzberger turned the meeting into a romantic encounter rather than a business opportunity, the suit alleges.
“Once at Mr. Herzberger’s home, Mr. Herzberger told plaintiff that plaintiff should have sex with him and that it would help plaintiff’s career if he complied with Mr. Herzberger’s suggestion,” the suit alleges.
Adkins reluctantly relented and was eventually given a job and his assignments included being an assistant to an NBC Universal writer, the suit states.
“Plaintiff’s coercive sexual encounter with Mr. Herzberger started a yearslong relationship of coercion and sexual abuse,” the suit states.
Herzberger threatened to blacklist Adkins from the entertainment industry and threatened retaliation if the plaintiff left their relationship, according to the suit, which further states that Adkins began suffering retaliation from NBCUniversal when he informed management as well as the police of Herzberger’s sexual behavior that went beyond the pale.
Adkins was fired last June and told by one executive that she knew what was happening to him was unfair, but that the plaintiff was “collateral damage” and that he also was being dismissed for the suit states.
The same executive told Adkins that he should be “very careful” in order to avoid making “powerful enemies” in Hollywood, the suit states.