Getty Joby Harte speaks during the All It Takes Lasting Legacy event to celebrate youth leadership on April 28, 2018.
Joby Harte is a British talent manager with Hot Rock Media as well as a television presenter. In September 2019, Ricky Garcia, former Disney actor and member of the group Forever in Your Mind, accused Harte, his former manager, of sexual assault. Garcia also spoke about the sexual abuse he experienced in the March 9 documentary, “(My) Truth: The Rape of the 2 Coreys.”
According to the lawsuit, Garcia says he suffered abuse for years at the hands of Joby Harte, which began at the age of 12. Harte would get Garcia intoxicated and then sexually assault him. The lawsuit claims that this happened for years, and by the time Garcia was 16 years old, this happened almost every week. Garcia also said that Harte not only sexually assaulted Garcia frequently but also “groomed” him and passed him around as a “sexual plaything” to his colleagues.
Here’s what you need to know about Joby Harte:
1. He Was Accused of Sexually Assaulting Ricky Garcia & Trafficking Him to Clients
The lawsuit filed by Ricky Garcia alleged that “Defendent Harte, the ringleader, employed the well-worn pedophile playbook of grooming and seduction. He targeted an economically and emotionally vulnerable pre-teen and his parents,” it states. “He then groomed and seduced the child’s mother to have her lay down her defenses and give him unfettered access to her son, making her an unwitting accomplice to his depravity,” People reported.
It named Joby Harte as the defendant, along with the agency APA, the former APA agent Tyler Grasham, the manager-producer Nils Larsen, Harte’s company Hot Rock Media, Cohen/Thomas Management and partners Sheri Andersen Thomas and Paul Cohen.
2. He Created the Entertainment Company Hot Rock Media in 2009, Which Represented Garcia
Joby Harte created the Hot Rock Media, Inc. company in 2009. The company was based in Beverly Hills, California. Hot Rock Media also obtained offices at NBC Burbank Studios and partnered with Cohen Thomas Management’s talent managers, Paul Cohen and Sheri Anderson Thomas. These are the businesses and individuals named in Garcia’s lawsuit.
It is unclear if Hot Rock Media is still in business, as their website no longer exists. According to Joby Harte’s LinkedIn, he is the CEO Artist Management & Production of the company from January 2009 to present. The Hot Rock Media Twitter does not have any tweets past 2016. The profile picture shows Ricky Garcia’s group Forever in Your Mind along with Joby Harte. It’s described as a “Los Angeles based Entertainment Company. Representing Musicians and Actors.”
3. He Worked as a Television Producer for Dozens of U.K. Shows
Joby Harte in an IMDB photo.
Harte worked on a lot of different shows, including most notably BBC’s “Strictly Come Dancing” and “Top of the Pops.” He was also part of the production team and one of the creators of the popular hit reality series “Pop Idol” along with Ken Warwick, a show that would eventually spin off and become “American Idol.”
4. He Also Appeared as an Actor & Presenter for Many TV Series
Harte also stepped out from behind the scenes and worked as a television host and actor for many years. He is well-known in the U.K. as the host of “Majors & Minors,” formerly of the Hub Network, now Discovery Family, which started in 2011.
As an actor, he also played the baker on the children’s show on ITV called “SMTV Live.” He was most recently listed as a warm-up artist on 45 episodes of BattleBots from 2016 to 2019, according to his IMDB profile. He is most frequently credited as a warm-up artist, including for “Big Brother” in 2016 and “The Late Late Show With James Corden” in 2015.
5. He Was Born in London, England on January 30, 1982
Harte was born on January 30, 1982 and is now 38 years old. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is from London, and he attended Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith, U.K. His Facebook page indicates that he studied at the Brit School of Performing Art and Technology and now lives in Los Angeles.
This is a promo that Joby Harte uploaded to his YouTube channel in 2012 for the show “Majors & Minors.”
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