What Shell he do

It's the NBC TV network that runs those little 10-second Public Service Announcements about being fair and nice and respecting others and how everyone deserves fair play on and off the job. 

Well, the more you know about the NBC network, the more you need to hear that NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell is leaving the company. Has left it already, it would seem. He came in over the weekend to clean out his desk and he is out on his asterisk. There was a complaint about his behavior being inappropriate, and I guess it says a lot about his behavior to read this:

“Today is my last day as CEO of NBCUniversal. I had an inappropriate relationship with a woman in the company, which I deeply regret,” Shell said. “I’m truly sorry I let my Comcast and NBCUniversal colleagues down, they are the most talented people in the business and the opportunity to work with them the last 19 years has been a privilege.”

A Shell of a man

The company had brought in an outside law firm to run the investigation, and Shell's departure was "mutually agreed upon," the company said. That is corporate-speak for "quit before we fire you."

Comcast owns this whole ball of confusion, and Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts and Comcast President Mike Cavanagh wrote a memo to all employees which stated that they were “disappointed to share this news.”

“We built this company on a culture of integrity. Nothing is more important than how we treat each other. You should count on your leaders to create a safe and respectful workplace,” Roberts and Cavanagh stated. “When our principles are violated, we will always move quickly to take appropriate action, as we have done here.”

They went on to point out that that NBCUniversal “is performing extremely well operationally and financially,” which is corporate-speak for "We got rid of him before the news got out and ruined our bottom line, which is buttressed by revenue from stalwart programs such as 'Lopez vs. Lopez' and 'Young Rock'."

Shell came up through the ranks, if you will, at NBC, creating the streaming service Peacock, where discriminating viewers can choose among the 27 "Real Housewives" series streaming. He also oversaw NBC's film studio and theme parks, where the most daring of us can see TV shows being filmed. 

For an extra twenty dollars, I'd bet they will allow you to co-star in an episode of "Night Court"!

This is not the first time an NBC bigshot has been caught with his pants down, if you will. Shell was around in 2020 when Ron Meyer, longtime vice chairman, walked the plank after the admitted to paying a women to hush up about their affair. Shell said, as he pushed Meyer out the door, that Meyer “acted in a manner which we believe is not consistent with our company policies or values.”

And of course, back to the earliest days of the Me Too movement, dimwitted Today host Matt Lauer had a can tied to him for his dastardly treatment of females, including having a button on his desk that locked his office door. 

So, yeah, The More You Know about NBC, the more you realize the top brass up there needs a lot more polish.

My question is, and always has been, can these men just not?