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Extra host A.J. Calloway will no longer be returning to the show following an investigation into sexual assault allegations levied against him by several women. In a statement issued Wednesday, Warner Bros. announced that it had completed its investigation, and as a result, Calloway “and the company have mutually agreed to part ways.” Deadline reports that Calloway has been accused of sexual assault by journalist Sil Lai Abrams and two other women, one of whom filed a complaint of aggravated sexual assault with police in December 2018; the Extra host has denied the allegations.
On Wednesday, Extra distributor Warner Bros. announced that Calloway, who has served as a host since 2008, would not be returning to the syndicated show. “The Company has investigated the claims made into Mr. Calloway’s conduct and he and the Company have mutually agreed to part ways,” they said. Calloway had been suspended since February, when Warner Bros. began investigating the assault claims levied by Abrams and two other women (they told The Daily Beast in January 2019 that they wish to stay anonymous).
Deadline reports that when Calloway was suspended in February, Warner Bros. announced that it would be conducting an internal investigation “to determine whether there had been any misconduct by Mr. Calloway on Extra and whether any employee of the show had been the victim of any such misconduct.” The company’s statement continued, “To date, we have found nothing to suggest that Mr. Calloway has ever engaged in workplace misconduct.”
In June 2018, Abrams claimed that she was sexually assaulted by Calloway in 2006. At the time, The Hollywood Reporter said that she filed a police report and Calloway was arrested, but the case was later dismissed “on procedural grounds.” The Extra host denied Abrams’ claim, telling THR, “These decade-old allegations are false. They were false when they were first made and are false now.”
Six months later, in January 2019, two more women came forward with allegations of sexual assault. The women, who spoke with The Daily Beast on the condition of anonymity, said that they were “terrified about coming forward,” and one confirmed that she brought her allegation to the West Orange, New Jersey Police Department on December 24, 2018. At the time, Calloway’s lawyer said that the host “firmly denies any claim that he assaulted someone,” but she declined to comment further on the matter.
