The Lethal Weapon drama continues. With the show set to start its third season with new star Seann William Scott, fired actor Clayne Crawford, is beginning to speak out more about the situation.
In his first interview since being fired from the Warner Bros. TV-produced Fox drama, Crawford opened up about the events that led to his dismissal in a nearly two-hour podcast with longtime friend and Drinkin’ Bros. host Ross Patterson. He begins by saying that he believed the initial story about his bad behavior on set — which was published the day he started directing his first episode — would eventually blow over.
Crawford elaborates by saying that he and co-star Damon Wayans never wanted to do Lethal Weapon and that both had issues with one another. Crawford also notes that he felt the studio set him up to fail by allowing him to direct an episode in season two after he threatened to quit the drama after its freshman run:
“I was only … able to direct an episode of season two because I did not want to come back for season two. It was such a shit show season one, I felt like I had been lied to — they told me Damon was so excited.”
Crawford went on to challenge the multiple press reports about his behavior — as well as many of Wayans’ tweets about the drama on set — while claiming he was being blackmailed to keep quiet about his issues with his co-star and the overall production as many people on set had audio tapes of him screaming at a first assistant director (who quit that day).
“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.”
Crawford also refutes claims that he yelled at children during the filming of a particular episode that also became public knowledge after his firing:
“It’s a blatant f—king lie… Clearly I’m yelling at the guy whose job it is to get the set quiet. And here’s the thing: Did I make a poor choice? Absolutely, and I felt embarrassed in the moment because I was belligerent… We’d been shooting a three-page scene for eight hours, OK? We were so behind, and we continued to try and shoot through all of this noise… We stopped production over seven times. I called my agent, we were writing emails, we were phoning everyone we could to try and help us resolve the situation. No one would come in, no one would help us… So I shot all of my coverage in between the sounds. I snapped. Should I have gone to my trailer? 100 percent. Should I have just gone and waited? That’s what I was instructed to do when there was a problem — you go sit in your trailer and you lock your door and you take a nap. … Hollywood is very sensitive, so I should not have screamed and yelled, right, because it’s a bunch of very delicate flowers out there.”
Crawford also name-checks Warner Bros. Television president Peter Roth, whom he claims he asked for help in dealing with disgruntled star Wayans and what he says was an unwillingness to come to table reads or to set on multiple occasions. Crawford also notes that when the reports of his behavior first surfaced, he asked Roth how he could allow Wayans to “put this slander shit out there.” That’s when Roth, he says, encouraged Crawford to apologize to his co-star in a bid to save his job:
“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 fu—? 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.”
What’s really telling is Crawford frequently states that Wayans didn’t like the show & didn’t want to be there. He thought Wayans would come back excited for season two but that never happened and he continued to be miserable. Crawford notes that he was told Wayans wanted to do Lethal Weapon but eventually learned that the latter had pitched Roth a different show for his return from acting retirement. He also revealed they called Damon ‘LEE’ — ‘Lazy Entitled Elitist on set.
As to why Crawford is speaking out now? The actor says it was just time to get his side of the story out there:
“The only reason I’m doing this is because every time — it’s August and any time they talk about the show, it’s my image, my f—ing name, to promote their goddamn show.”
This is the kind of drama this show could never create but if you’re interested, season three of Lethal Weapon premieres, sans Crawford, on September 25 on FOX.
