While Drake is posted up on top of the Billboard charts, breaking records and settling in to stay there forever, big things are happening behind the scenes at Billboard. Earlier this week, the CEO of Billboard and The Hollywood Reporter, John Amato, was forced out of his position after investigations revealed allegations of sexual misconduct, according to three sources that The Daily Beast describes as having "direct knowledge of the outcome of the internal investigation."
The allegations first began to surface not in relation to Amato, but as a result of the allegations surrounding his friend Charlie Walk, ex-president of Republic Records. Billboard had bought SpinMedia in 2016 (a deal for which Amato is also being investigated for financial wrongdoing) and when Spin and Billboard began writing about the allegations surrounding his friend Charlie, Amato apparently tried to kill the stories. His meddling backfired on him, though, as it brought him under scrutiny for his own alleged sexual misconduct. Apparently he "particularly mistreated young female staffers" and, according to Variety, he "behaved inappropriately" at the 2014 Sundance film Festival and the Billboard Music Awards of 2017. He is also said to have made "sexually explicit" comments in front of employees.
The investigation of Amato is being headed by independent HR specialist Lisa Kaye.
