Disagreeing with coworkers is simply a part of life at work. Most people learn to co-exist with a difficult person and may even develop a grudging respect for the individual over time. In some cases, the coworker is simply too annoying or carries too large a personality difference to build any solid bridges. In worse cases, coworkers are malicious enough to warrant a trip out the door at the very least— or a trip downtown in handcuffs.
In 2017 we saw a hoard of malignant tumors, otherwise known as corrupt men in power, get the boot from their projects following the brave reporting of many men and women who stepped forward during the #MeToo movement. The silence that so many used to hide behind for so long no longer afforded abusers protection, offering some much-needed progress following the recent political climate.
To be clear, many of these famous people got themselves fired through their own behavior, but the willingness of those they hurt to share their stories is what brought their behavior to light, making it possible for them to get fired.
From disagreements over a few petty annoyances to outing the pond scum of the business, here are 15 Stars Who Got Their Co-Workers Fired.
Kevin James
One of the most famous cases of an actor getting his coworker fired was that of Kevin James cutting Erinn Hayes from his program, Kevin Can Wait. Not only was Hayes quickly cut, but James promptly brought back his former TV wife from The King of Queens, Leah Remini.
The scandal wasn’t over a simple actor replacement, but the actual killing off of a character. James claims that the death was done to drive the plot of his show further, but killing off the wife of the main character after one season, particularly in a comedy, just doesn’t make sense. J
ames can say the show didn’t have enough “drive” with a wife dragging him down all he wants but it seems like an excuse for him to work with Remini again.
Women of One Tree Hill
Several women who appeared in the series One Tree Hill have come forward to share stories about the series creator, Mark Schwahn, who sexually harassed not just show actors like but also crew members. Actresses Sophia Bush, Hilarie Burton, and Bethany Joy Lenz co-authored a letter affirming that they had been “manipulated psychologically and emotionally” by Schwahn and put into physically uncomfortable situations.
Following the statement, 25 women of Schwahn’s show The Royals also released a statement saying that they, too, had experienced harassment at the hands of Schwahn. Some women reported experiencing PTSD following the events and many said that they felt unsafe on the set.
Since the letters were released Schwahn has been fired from Lionsgate TV. The decision came after the company ran an investigation about the allegations.
Will Smith
When it comes to getting a coworker fired over creative differences, Will Smith often comes to mind. After acting on his beloved show The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Janet Hubert, who played the original Aunt Vivian on the show, was fired. Hubert claims that Will Smith just “needed to win” when the two butted heads over the sitcom. She stated that she also had issues with her salary.
Smith has famously stated that Hubert simply wanted the show to be about her character and behaved as such, resenting the fact that a young actor received more attention than she did after acting in the business for many years. Several actors on the show seemed to have issues with Hubert, who was replaced by Daphne Maxwell Reid, and Hubert has not been shy in voicing how she feels about her former cast mates.
Kristina Cohen - Ed Westwick
At least three women have accused Gossip Girl actor Ed Westwick of assault, prompting the BBC to recast their adaptation of Agatha Christie’s Ordeal of Innocence with Christian Cooke. His scenes are all being re-shot after actresses Kristina Cohen and Aurélie Wynn, and the girlfriend of a producer, Rachel Eck, all shared similar accounts of being attacked by Westwick. Cohen’s account includes being attacked in her sleep by the actor.
Westwick maintains that he never touched any of these women, all of whom have stated on social media that they were assaulted at his home or places he was staying in similar manners. Westwick calls the statements “unverified and provably untrue social media claims” and says he is working with the authorities to clear his name.
Eliza Dushku
The reported from Eliza Dushku that she was abused by Joel Krame - a renowned stunt coordinator on popular TV series like Star Trek Discovery and Westworld, when she was just 12 years old on the set of True Lies, broke many hearts. Childhood shouldn’t include such painful events and the fact that Dushku even spoke up as a child only to have no one do anything about the abuse, which the man had apparently been known to do, makes it even worse.
More actresses have come forward to point fingers at Kramer, who denied the allegations and only admitted to having relations with a 16-year-old at one point. Kramer’s talent agency, Worldwide Production Agency, has since given him the boot.
Rami Malek
Rami Malek is a beloved Hollywood name lately, particularly following his Emmy-award winning performance in Mr. Robot. He’s someone you want to keep on a project, so when he clashed with Bryan Singer, whose name is already slipping down the no-hire list, while working on the Queen biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, it was Singer who got the boot.
Singer was apparently in conflict with several actors in the project in addition to Malek, and after his “unexpected availability” became an issue (not to mention the rumor that he threw an object during an argument) he was cut. Many believe that he should’ve been blacklisted ages ago since he’s had numerous misconduct allegations trail behind his work over the years.
Gal Gadot
Brett Ratner's career as a director of blockbuster movies blew up when multiple allegations came out against him this year. Olivia Munn, Natasha Henstridge, and Sarah Shahi were just some of the women who shared their terrible experiences with Ratner. The director categorically denied all the allegations, accused the women of being jealous, and intimated he would take legal action against him. Ellen Page had her own story to share, reporting Ratner's homophobic and harassing behavior toward her.
But Ratner was still attached as a producer for Wonder Woman - which was especially troubling as the hero was role model for strong women everywhere. Star Gal Gadot has reportedly ensured that Ratner will be as far away from the film’s sequel as possible after hearing about all of the women coming forward against the producer. Gadot is on record saying that it was simply the right thing to do.
Rose McGowan
Harvey Weinstein now has an atrocious reputation and police investigating him due to his numerous assault and harassment allegations. Actress after actress has come forward, from Paz de la Huerta to Lena Headey, Lauren Holly to Ashley Judd. Weinstein has caused a lot of pain and suffering over the decades of his career and has subsequently been fired by the company that bears his own name.
Over 50 women have accused Harvey Weinstein of inappropriate behavior and more will likely continue, but actress Rose McGowan, who pointed the finger at Weinstein for assaulting and was banned on Twitter, is credited with leading the charge that lost Weinstein his supporters and career. Weinstein’s behavior, of course, is what truly lost him everything.
Anthony Rapp
When Family Guy joked about Kevin Spacey keeping Stewie somewhere in a nefariously suggestive tone, people laughed heartily at the joke because it seemed so ridiculous. Today it seems more like a dark omen of all the allegations against him that have since come out.
Apparently Spacey was behaving inappropriately and harmfully toward young men so frequently and so blatantly that actor Anthony Rapp, accosted by Spacey in his early teens, courageously opted to share his story in the wake of the #MeToo movement.
Once Rapp’s statement was echoed by many men spanning from Spacey’s past, Netflix decided to have nothing to do with the actor, who issued a terrible excuse for an apology in a simultaneous coming-out letter. House of Cards will continue but it will not include Spacey.
Jenny Lumet
Music and TV producer and co-founder of Def Jam Recordings Russell Simmons is stepping down from his companies after allegations of assault by writer and actress Jenny Lumet. Lumet acted in his film Tougher Than Leather and experienced his frequent pursuit, which she thought to be flattering and cute until the night that where she says he locked her in his car, forced her to come home with him, and assaulted her.
Simmons has refused to admit to assault or abuse but has stepped down on his own, claiming that he needs time to reflect on his actions during a night that he has “different memories” about than Lumet. He also claims that he’s never been violent but was insensitive, while Lumet shares that it was a violent and terrible night for her that tainted her career many times over the years.
Leeann Tweeden
Al Franken, formerly known as Stuart Smalley, author of Lies and the Lying Liars Who Tell Them and general liberal heroic comedian turned politician, disappointed the nation last year when Leeann Tweeden came forward to share the store about how Franken had sexually harassed her during a USO Tour together.
It wasn’t just a story that she shared, either; Tweeden posted disturbing photos of Franken manhandling her while she was asleep, which just adds an even more disturbing element to her ordeal with the ex-senator from Minnesota. A man who claimed to champion women’s rights secretly humiliated and degraded them while they slept! As a result of Tweeden’s statement and several other women’s accounts who have since come forward about Franken’s deplorable behavior, he has resigned from the U.S. Senate.
Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov
Rumors of Louis CK’s harassment have circled the Internet for many years, but CK’s feminism, lackluster acknowledgement of the rumors with phrases like “That’s not a thing,” and the lack of evidence and victims willing to name names kept it at just that. Now after several of CK’s female coworkers have come forward to speak up against him, he has finally admitted to the heinous behavior in one of the worst apology letters ever written.
Comedians Dana Min Goodman and Julia Wolov were not the only women to be assaulted by CK but they were the ones who spoke up and made it known that he was the kind of person he often made fun of in his own routines. CK was subsequently fired from several projects by FX, Netflix, and HBO.
Members Of Raising Buchanan Production
Several coworkers of Andy Dick’s in the independent feature Raising Buchanan have maintained that the actor engaged in inappropriate behavior, including harassment and misconduct, on the set of the movie. Dick maintains he did nothing wrong, but he's been fired from the film all the same.
Dick has stated that what he does, which includes uninvited kissing and face-licking, are not the same as harassment. He says, “I might have kissed somebody on the cheek to say goodbye and then licked them. That’s my thing.” His “thing” got him fired from the movie because unwanted kissing and licking are indeed harassment.
Dick is well-known for his off the wall behavior and personality, which is why fans like him, but crossing someone else’s boundaries isn’t comedic or cute.
Cassidy Freeman
Several women have accursed actor Jeremy Piven of assaulting them since last year, including actresses Anastasia Taneie and Ariane Bellamar, who shared stories of him groping them on the set of Entourage, a program from which he earned a Golden Globe and three Emmys. H's also been reported as harassing at least one actress with abusive and explicit text messages. Cassidy Freeman and Tiffany Bacon Scourby also came forward with allegations against Piven.
When Piven denied that he’d assaulted Bellamar, Freeman took to Instagram to say, “Whether or not her accusations are true, the TRUTH is I know you. I know what you did and attempted to do to me when I was far too young. THAT I know. And you know it too.” Since then, his CBS drama Wisdom of the Crowd has been canceled.
Women of NBC
Matt Lauer has given viewers at home the heebie jeebies over the years with his inappropriate comments, refusal to take a hint, and continued efforts to discuss things that made his female guests uncomfortable. It turns out that the creep factor ran much more deeply as Lauer, who was under investigation by Vanity Fair for months, is now reported to have abused his power to harass and coerce the women he worked with in the network.
Lauer has been fired after many women of NBC came forward and told Vanity Fair their nightmarish stories, some of which included a now infamous "secret button" that Lauer used beneath his desk to trap them in his office. While executives maintain that they had no idea about his behavior, many women say that they reported him, with no results.
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Do you know of other stars who got their coworkers fired? Let us know in the comments.