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HBO Cancels Albrecht

Posted May 9th 2007 6:57PM by TMZ Staff

In the wake of his Las Vegas arrest this past weekend, HBO has decided to cut ties with Chairman and CEO, Chris Albrecht.

In a statement obtained by TMZ, Time Warner Chairman and CEO Richard D. Parsons said:

"Jeff Bewkes (President and COO of Time Warner) and I believe that this is the right decision for the Company. We thank Chris for all of his contributions to Home Box Office over the years."

Albrecht, who had been with HBO for 22 years, says that he "agreed to step down ... recognizing that I cannot allow my personal circumstances to distract them from the business."

HBO Chief Operating Officer Bill Nelson will temporarily take over Albrecht's duties until a new CEO is appointed.

Albrecht was arrested over the weekend for allegedly assaulting his girlfriend outside the MGM Grand Casino after the prizefight between Oscar de la Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, Jr.

Yesterday, Albrecht sent a letter to the HBO staff, which stated that he was "deeply sorry" for the Vegas incident, and revealed that he is a recovering alcoholic who had slipped.

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16. #13....there are two sides to every ass whopping! You don't know if she had it coming or not.

Posted at 3:35AM on May 11th 2007 by DJ...from the Slap-A-Hoe Tribe

17. Well, I guess HBO didn't take too kindly to your apparent public violence toward your girlfriend. Sorry.

Posted at 9:00PM on May 9th 2007 by Hello?

18. No one deserves to be beat whomever said that if you ever have a daughter and that happens to her let us know how you feel about your daughter being beaten by a angry man.

He obviously had a bad track record because in a corporate environment you usually get three sticks and then your out.......

Posted at 9:17PM on May 9th 2007 by madge

19. I hope they don't cancel Entrouage now because he is not there any longer. I love that show. And maybe the girl was a PIA and needed a good back of the pimp hand.

Posted at 9:09PM on May 9th 2007 by Skooter ChaCha

20. There is more to this story. Chris Albrecht obviously is not using good judgement lately???

Posted at 9:14PM on May 9th 2007 by anonymous

21. Karma. This is the genious that cancelled Deadwood and Rome. Nice to see he has been cancelled as well. Bye bye.

Posted at 9:19PM on May 9th 2007 by Deadwood

22. Deadwood, I LOVED those shows -- they were the best thing on TV.

Now Paris crying tears of terror is.

Posted at 9:20PM on May 9th 2007 by Hello?

23. There's a lot more to this story than TMZ [owned by the same company that owns HBO.. hello?] is telling us.

While no one condones him "alledgedly" beating a girlfriend, I suspect it would take a lot more than preliminary charges about this one incident to get this big honcho fired. I think there's a smoking gun... other charges, a history that will come out, other misdeeds [maybe he was high on drugs, whatever] that have been hidden.

Posted at 9:26PM on May 9th 2007 by Mimi

24. I'm curious what his severance package is --any info TMZ?

Posted at 9:38PM on May 9th 2007 by bc

25. Apologized to the HBO staff? He SHOULD be apologizing to his girlfriend.

Posted at 10:31PM on May 9th 2007 by T in the OC

26. AND????????????????????????? AND????????????????????????AND?????????????????AND????????????????????

Posted at 6:53PM on May 10th 2007 by latysha

27. Well, thats one way to jip him out of his retirement......smart move..save money..22 years of taking from Chris until he slips up. Good company to work for. Time Warner...Richard Parsons, and Jeff Bewkes...people will be watching you.....hope you don't ever slip up. But of course you only throw the stones..do as I say...not as I do. Somewhere down the line, could be soon, your lives could be disrupted by some yet, unknown event. Oh, but you live perfect lives and no scandal will ever affect YOU...will it?

Posted at 10:00PM on May 9th 2007 by Jackie

28. HBO THREW THIS MAN OUT AFTER 22 YRS OF HARD WORK??? I AM THROWING HBO OUT AFTER 15 YRS. THIS MAN ISN'T TRASHY PARIS. I HAVE GREAT SYMPATHY FOR HIM AND HIS PROBLEM. I SAY BOYCOTT HBO!!

TEAM CHRIS

Posted at 10:04PM on May 9th 2007 by Tricia

29. His girlfriend was probably mouthing off or being a slut...she deserved to be punched.

Posted at 10:33PM on May 9th 2007 by illegal aliens are shyte

30. HBO sucks. Maybe one of the hack comedians he signed on for Comedy Specials will loan him some money. Another talentless suit goes down in flames. Good Riddance

Posted at 10:51PM on May 9th 2007 by Captain America

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