A producer claims NBC tried to kill Ronan Farrow's Harvey Weinstein story

A former NBC producer has accused NBC of attempting to shut down Ronan Farrow's investigation into Harvey Weinstein's sexual misconduct, claiming that the studio bowed to pressure from Weinstein affiliates.

Rich McHugh, who worked on the project with Farrow at NBC and who Farrow has referred to as an "unsung hero" of the Weinstein investigation, accused NBC of refusing to allow Farrow to interview subjects and putting undue resistance on himself and Farrow.

McHugh told The New York Times about the pressure and alluded to Weinstein's team interfering with executives at NBC regarding the story:

"Externally, I had Weinstein associates calling me repeatedly. I knew that Weinstein was calling NBC executives directly. One time it even happened when we were in the room."

Farrow eventually took the story to The New Yorker and published it there. He won a Pulitzer Prize for his work.

NBC as a network and company has come under fire in recent months for several high-profile harassment cases of its own, having fired Good Morning America host Matt Lauer over harassment claims and fielding claims that former star anchor Tom Brokaw also sexually harassed staffers.

The network has attempted to explain why Farrow, an NBC employee, took the Weinstein story to The New Yorker by saying that Farrow didn't have sufficient on-camera evidence of Weinstein's misconduct. They referred to an interview with Weinstein accuser Rose McGowan as "not ideal," because she did not refer to Weinstein by name when recalling her assault to Farrow.

Farrow's nonexclusive contract allowed him to take the story elsewhere after NBC passed on it. The network has said in response to McHugh's accusations that "the assertion that NBC News tried to kill the Weinstein story while Ronan Farrow was at NBC News, or even more ludicrously, after he left NBC News, is an outright lie."

McHugh has since left his job as a producer at NBC News.