Clayne Crawford Speaks About “Lethal” Exit
Following on from his exit from FOX’s “Lethal Weapon” series earlier this year, the show’s former co-star Clayne Crawford has spoken out about his firing from the series in an interview on the
Drinkin’ Bros. podcast (via
Deadline).
Crawford, who had the co-lead role of Martin Riggs, came under fire for his apparent bad behavior on the set. The actor apologized for two incidents for which he was reprimanded during the sophomore season, but it apparently wasn’t good enough and so he was out.
Speaking on the podcast, Crawford surprisingly reveals that to this day he has never received a call from Warner Bros. Television informing him he was fired – he learned his fate from social media and news outlets. He says his last conversation with studio president Peter Roth arrived after news first surfaced of the on-set issues:
“He said, ‘Clayne, I can’t promise you that I can save your job, but what I can tell you is that you have to make a public announcement apologizing, publicly, to Damon Wayans’. I was like, ‘What the f—? Peter, why would I apologize publicly because he and I had a riff on set?’ And he’s like, ‘Clayne, that statement alone tells me you don’t want to come back… If I were you, I’d look your children in the eyes, and I’d look your wife in the eyes, and you need to make a decision, but again I can’t promise you that I can save your job.”
He also addressed two on-set incidents, one during a location shoot in a park during which he shouted at the assistant director over noise issues on the set:
“I knew that they had those tapes, and they had been blackmailing me with that… anytime I had a problem with [Damon Wayans]. When the incident happened, I had to pay half of my salary for that episode, I had to spend six weeks in anger management every day on my lunch break, and I had to be escorted to and from set by a security guard, so it was humiliating.”
He adds the allegation that he was yelling at children at a nearby pool that day isn’t true:
“[A] blatant f–king lie… Clearly I’m yelling at the guy whose job it is to get the set quiet. Here’s the thing: Did I make a poor choice? Absolutely, and I felt embarrassed in the moment because I was belligerent… Hollywood is very sensitive, so I should not have screamed and yelled, right, because it’s a bunch of very delicate flowers out there.”
Seann William Scott is coming onto the show as a new co-lead character opposite Damon Wayans. Scott is portraying Wesley Cole, an ex-CIA agent, war veteran and father who moves to Los Angeles to be closer to his child. “Lethal Weapon” returns September 25th.