Lisa Hamilton Daly, who joined Hallmark Media in 2021, is absent. On Monday morning, the company announced that her position as EVP of programming had been eliminated.
“Hallmark is aligning its consumer-facing touchpoints, including content, under one leader, Chief Brand Officer Darren Abbott, with a focus and expertise in expressing the Hallmark brand to consumers – from product to experiences and now content, across multiple platforms . “Darren has an innate understanding of the Hallmark brand and, combined with his leadership and vision, will ensure our content aligns with the promise of our legacy brand,” the company said in a statement Monday. “In this move, the position of EVP, Programming was eliminated and Lisa Hamilton Daly will be leaving the company. Lisa is an exceptionally talented creative leader and we are grateful for her many contributions to Hallmark Media, including expanding our stories and characters in new ways.”
Hamilton Daly was hired in September 2021, with previous jobs at Netflix and A+E Networks.
The change comes three months after Daly and Hallmark were sued for age discrimination, defamation and wrongful termination by former casting agent Penny Perry. Perry claimed at the time that Hamilton Daly forced her to leave “because of her age.” SVP of programming and development Randy Pope and HR director Paul Hodgkinson were listed as co-defendants.
The lawsuit, filed on Oct. 9, alleged that Hamilton Daly taunted Holly Robinson Peete and Lacey Chabert, who are 60 and 42, respectively, calling them “old talent” who needed to be “replaced.” The former Hallmark executive reportedly said, “Lacey is getting older and we need to find someone like her to replace her as she gets older,” and then said of Robinson Peete, “Nobody wants her because she’s too expensive and she’s getting too old.” She can no longer play leading roles.”
The other actors named in the lawsuit were Elizabeth Mitchell, Catherine Bell, Alison Sweeney, Autumn Reeser, Kelly Martin, Nikki Deloach, Rachel Boston, Brennan Elliott, Cameron Mathieson, Paul Greene, Eric Close [as to acting, not directing] and Terry Hatcher.
Hallmark responded in a statement at the time: “Lacey and Holly have a home in Hallmark. We generally do not comment on pending litigation. And while we deny these outrageous allegations, we will not discuss an employment relationship in the media.”