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If you used social media at all this week, then there’s a very good chance you encountered the first trailer for Primetime, which is set to hit theaters next month.
The film, which stars Robert Pattinson in the lead role, explores the controversial career of Chris Hansen, the NBC journalist who made a name for himself by setting up televised sting operations to expose men who had arranged to meet minors they had met online.
What began as a segment on Dateline: NBC soon spawned its own series, To Catch a Predator, and Hansen soon found himself at the center of intense debates about journalistic ethics and vigilante justice.
For obvious reasons, the trailer has raised questions about what Hansen is doing with his life these days.
And it seems that despite the controversies, he’s still up to his old tricks.
Although many viewers still associate Hansen almost exclusively with To Catch a Predator, the 66-year-old never stepped away from investigative reporting.
After leaving NBC in 2013, Hansen launched several new projects centered on crime reporting, including Hansen vs. Predator and later Takedown with Chris Hansen.
He also founded the streaming platform TruBlu, which focuses on true crime programming and investigative journalism.
He’s also embraced podcasting.
Hansen currently hosts two shows, “Predators I’ve Caught” and “Have a Seat with Chris Hansen,” where he revisits past investigations, interviews guests and discusses ongoing criminal cases.
According to People, new episodes are released twice each week.
The past several years have also brought major changes away from the cameras.
Hansen divorced his first wife, Mary Joan Hansen, in 2020 after nearly three decades of marriage. Their split followed years of highly publicized personal and financial issues, including reports that Hansen was evicted from his New York apartment during the divorce proceedings.
Hansen later downplayed the situation, describing it as a landlord-tenant dispute that received more attention than it deserved.
Just one year later, he married Gabrielle Gagnon, beginning a new chapter in his personal life.
Hansen has also weathered a handful of legal issues since his Dateline days.
In 2019, he was arrested after allegedly writing bad checks connected to promotional merchandise for a crowdfunding campaign. The matter was ultimately resolved.
He also faced a warrant in 2021 after failing to appear in court related to a sting operation. Hansen later said the missed court date resulted from a misunderstanding with his legal team.
Despite those setbacks, Hansen has remained active in the true crime world and continues conducting investigations.
Primetime probably won’t do any wonders for his reputation. But having already survived several scandals surrounding his brand of voyeuristic
