Charlie Walk Exits Republic Records
• It’s official — Republic Records Group President Charlie Walk has left the building. The news of Walk’s departure was delivered in a terse statement that read, simply, “Republic Records and Charlie Walk have mutually agreed to part ways.” The news was initially reported by Shirley Halperin and Jem Aswad at Variety.
Allegations accusing Walk of sexual harassment first surfaced in late January in an open letter posted by Life Lab founder Tristan Coopersmith, who was Walk’s former assistant at Columbia Records. Allegations from four other women who worked with Walk at Columbia and Republic Records were published in Rolling Stone late in February.
Walk was placed on leave from Republic Records after the first allegations surfaced and was also cut from the season finale of The Four: Battle For Stardom, where he was one of four judges alongside Sean “Diddy” Combs, DJ Khaled and Meghan Trainor. He retained Patricia Glaser, the same lawyer representing Harvey Weinstein, to fight the claims against him.
After a lengthy tenure in the executive ranks of Columbia and Epic Records, Walk launched Madison Avenue advertising and marketing firm JWALK. He returned to the record industry in January 2013, joining Republic Records as Executive Vice President, tasked with overseeing the label’s Marketing, Promotion and Publicity departments. He was named President of the newly formed Republic Records Group in February 2016.
