Netflix fires actor after rape-allegation fallout
HuffPost piece criticized company for how it handled accusations from four women
A day after HuffPost published an article critical of Netflix amid rape allegations against The Ranch star Danny Masterson, the company fired the actor from the series.
That story detailed how Netflix executive Andy Yeatman told a woman that higher-ups at the company didn’t believe the accusations of the four women who have come forward to the Los Angeles Police Department, which is investigating the claims — though he didn’t realize at the time that he was speaking to one of the alleged victims. He later told HuffPost that his comments were “careless” and “uninformed.”
Tuesday morning, Netflix released a statement that read: “As a result of ongoing discussions, Netflix and the producers have written Danny Masterson out of The Ranch. Yesterday was his last day on the show, and production will resume in early 2018 without him.”
In other developments Tuesday, a fourth man accused Metropolitan Opera conductor James Levine of sexual misconduct; the New York City Ballet removed Peter Martins from teaching a weekly class as a sexual harassment allegation is probed; and it was alleged that production on the 1995 film The Usual Suspects was shut down for two days over sexually inappropriate behaviour by Kevin Spacey.
It’s the second time in recent weeks that Netflix has had to change course on a series following allegations of sexual abuse. The company also fired House of Cardsstar Spacey after multiple accusations against him; the final season of the show will cut out his character completely, focusing instead on co-star Robin Wright. Four women claim Masterson raped them in the early 2000s, according to HuffPost. One of the women reported the attack to the LAPD in 2004, but the case was closed after some of Masterson’s fellow congregants in the Church of Scientology disputed her claims.
In a statement provided by his lawyer, Masterson denied the “outrageous allegations” and said he looks forward to clearing his name while thanking the cast, crew and fans of The Ranch.
The Ranch, which also stars Masterson’s That ’70s Show co-star Ashton Kutcher, is to air the second half of its second season on Dec.15. Those episodes will still feature Masterson and, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the actor may still appear in scenes that have already been shot for the already announced third season, but he won’t be back on set.
In New York, meanwhile, violinist Albin Ifsich told the New York Times he was abused by Levine in 1968 when he was a 20-year-old student at Michigan’s Meadow Brook School of Music, where Levine was on the faculty.
He said Levine exposed himself and masturbated.
Ifsich is the third former student at Meadow Brook to accuse Levine publicly of sexual misconduct. A fourth man has accused Levine of molesting him when he was 16.
The Metropolitan Opera, which suspended Levine on Sunday, says he denied the allegations.
Meanwhile, there were reports that the production of The Usual Suspects was suspended for two days after Spacey was accused of sexually inappropriate behaviour toward a young actor on set.
Gabriel Byrne, who co-starred in the 1995 thriller, said he only learned why filming halted years later.
“I did not know honestly then the extent of his violence,” Byrne told the British newspaper Sunday Times. With files from The Associated Press and the New York Daily News