An NBCUniversal executive involved in the successful musical Death Becomes Her is facing allegations in a lawsuit regarding arranging sexual encounters with minors. These claims come from an ex-boyfriend he once employed.
Chris Herzberger, the Senior Vice President of Universal Theatrical Group (UTG), is currently attempting to distance himself as a defendant from the expansive lawsuit filed by his 28-year-old former boyfriend, Tyler Adkins.
The suit, which names multiple NBCU execs, variously claims wrongful termination, retaliation, assault and battery, and sexual harassment.
Court documents assert that Adkins was introduced to Hollywood figure Herzberger while searching for employment in Los Angeles, a meeting that rapidly developed into a romantic relationship.
An aspiring actor, Adkins agreed to have sex with Herzberger, 38, after the exec told him it would be good for his career, and that a refusal would damage it, Askins’ suit claims. It allegedly led to a consensual relationship that lasted three years.
Attorneys representing Adkins said that during the relationship, whenever the actor tried to end things, Herzberger would calmly threaten to blacklist him from the industry.
In April last year, Adkins was given a job as assistant to NBCUniversal writer Marco Pennette.
At the time, Pennette had been writing a musical adaptation of the 1992 movie ‘Death Becomes Her’.
Senior Vice President of Universal Theatrical Group (UTG) Chris Herzberger (left), who worked on the hit musical Death Becomes Her, has been accused in a lawsuit of arranging to have sex with minors by Tyler Adkins (right), an ex-boyfriend he employed. The two are seen here in 2023
The show has since become a smash hit on Broadway and stars Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams. Pictured, stars Megan Hilty (left) and Jennifer Simard (right) during a recent performance in New York
The show has since become a smash hit on Broadway and stars former Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams.
During the show’s trial run in Chicago last May, Adkins was allegedly at Pennette’s beck and call all hours of the day, calling him Ubers, changing his diabetes monitor and more.
For that, he received a paycheck averaging out to $26,000 a year – well below the $66,560 required by California law with no overtime, the lawsuit claims.
In the lawsuit, Adkins claims to have uncovered Herzberger’s desire for underage boys while on a road trip from Chicago back to their LA home following the show’s trial, which they were both in the city for.
Adkins said in the complaint that his then-boyfriend had been strangely preoccupied and guarded with his phone.
When Adkins devised a ruse – whereby he asked to look at photos of the couple’s trips – he allegedly discovered graphic texts on gay hookup app Grindr and encrypted chat app Telegram.
The texts, which have been reviewed by the Daily Mail, are too graphic and disturbing to reproduce. The lawsuit claims they show Herzberger’s desire to have sex with children.
Some of those texts were filed as evidence by Adkins in his suit against NBCUniversal in Los Angeles Superior Court on Tuesday.
Adkins met the Hollywood bigwig while looking for work in LA, and the meeting quickly yielded a romantic relationship, court filings allege. An aspiring actor, Adkins allegedly agreed to have sex with Herzberger after being told it would be good for his career
Last year, Adkins was given a job as working as an assistant to Death Becomes Her writer Marco Pennette (pictured)
Adkins claims to have uncovered his then-boyfriend’s desire for underage boys while the pair took a road trip from Chicago back to their home in LA. Herzberger – seen here with fellow exec Lowe Cunningham – had been strangely preoccupied with his phone, Adkins claimed in the suit
On or around June 14, Adkins reported the text messages to police, according to the court filing.
The lawsuit says police subsequently asked Adkins to retrieve Herzberger’s cell phone after they viewed screenshots of the Grindr messages between the exec and third parties who were propositioning minors for sex.
Adkins then took it upon himself to report what he found to NBCUniversal’s human resources department, under the impression they could seize the company phone, the suit states.
But, shortly thereafter, Adkins claims he ‘became the victim of a relentless campaign of retaliation at the hands of [the] defendants,’ beginning with threats from one of his boyfriend’s underlings.
According to the complaint, UTG theater producer Lowe Cunningham – the third NBCU exec named in the case – first texted the plaintiff to ask who knew about the messages aside from police.
He claims when he responded that only Pennette knew, Cunningham told him over the phone that he should be ‘very careful’ of making ‘powerful enemies’ in the industry – before she abruptly ended the call.
By June 19, an unnamed member of the LAPD told Adkins they had been contacted by the media company, court papers say.
Herzberger has vehemently denied the claims made against him and says his ex-boyfriend’s allegations are filled with ‘fatal flaws’
Exes allegedly demanded officers ‘solve whatever investigation was under way with Mr. Herzberger immediately.’
The same day, officers from the LAPD obtained a warrant to search Herzberger’s home and seize his phone, laptop and iPad.
It remains unclear if detectives took any subsequent action. The Daily Mail has contacted the LAPD for comment but has not yet heard back.
Around two weeks later, Adkins received the call from Cunningham notifying him he was fired, the suit claims.
Not long before, a detective looking into the claims allegedly told Adkins he had ‘kicked a hornet’s nest’ by notifying NBCUniversal.
The official reason for Adkins’ firing was financial, NBCU insisted. After being let go, Adkins was allegedly told he couldn’t attend the Broadway premiere of Death Becomes Her, despite a previous promise that he could.
Pennette, the Death Becomes Her writer, is said to have invited Adkins to his birthday party after the assistant had been fired from the company.
After celebrating in public, Pennette invited Adkins back to his home, the lawsuit claims.
Death Becomes Her’s main cast – including former Destiny’s Child singer Michelle Williams (left) pictured on the show’s opening night in November 2024
Adkins’ suit claims he had hoped Pennette was going to talk to him about job opportunities, but alleges that the writer pulled him in for a kiss.
Blasting what he claimed were Pennette’s ‘sinister intentions,’ Adkins claimed he recoiled at the kiss and asked Pennette what he was doing.
‘Come on, give me a birthday kiss. Don’t you want a job?’ Pennette allegedly said. He now works for Warner-Bros as an executive producer. His team did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Herzberger’s attorneys, meanwhile, are vociferously denying Adkins’ claims and say his lawsuit is filled with ‘fatal flaws.’
They labeled the allegations that his relationship with Herzberger was ‘controlling’ as false, bringing up how the two men lived openly as a couple, got a dog and even met each other’s parents.
Demanding he be dismissed from the case, Herzberger’s attorneys wrote, ‘When viewed in context and subjected to even minimal scrutiny, the fatal flaws in plaintiff’s legal claims are apparent.’
Adkins, they claimed, is seeking to ‘recast his personal relationship with Herzberger as the longest job interview in history’.
The lawyers added how the pair’s three-year relationship – which began in March 2021 and ended in June – ‘included co-habitating for years and completely merging personal lives before a single minute of [Adkins’] work ever began.’
The lawyers added that the trips taken ‘were all on Herzberger’s dime’ because Adkins had been unemployed at the time. He was hired as Pennette’s assistant in April 2024.
NBCUniversal also is challenging Adkins’ sexual misconduct allegations, claiming they stemmed from a ‘personal relationship that ended poorly.’
In a court filing earlier this month, attorneys for the company said Adkins is now merely trying to ‘repurpose private grievances’ into claims against a third party.
Adkins, meanwhile, is seeking undisclosed damages. He has alleged he was intentionally misclassified as an independent contractor despite being a full-time employee.
NBCUniversal did not reply to a request for comment.
