Actors Who Got FIRED From Their TV Show

Few things are as gut-punching as being fired from a job, and when you're a famous actor this often happens for the world to see. From shocking scandals to disappointing casting changes, today on Collider, we're looking at five times when actors were kicked off some of your favorite shows. Robert Downey Jr. in Ally McBeal It's no secret that Robert Downey Jr. went through a rocky period in his career, as he worked to overcome drug addiction in the 90s and early 2000s. While these struggles affected Downey's involvement in numerous projects, it became particularly apparent with his abrupt exit from the legal dramedy, Ally McBeal. The show did, in theory, come at the perfect time. Downey was looking for a project to revive his stalled career, and Ally McBeal was getting stale after three seasons. It needed something, or someone, to reinvigorate it. So, Downey joined the show for its fourth season as lawyer Larry Paul, also serving as a love interest for Calista Flockhart's Ally. The pair had chemistry, and the series had stabilized its viewership as hoped. Furthermore, Downey landed a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role, and was caught off guard by the standing ovation he was given as he walked to the stage to accept it. Season four of Ally McBeal was intended to end with Larry and Ally getting married, with season five focused on their married life. Unfortunately, Downey's moment of redemption didn't last. In November 2000, while filming the series, Downey was arrested in Palm Springs for being under the influence of a controlled substance, and was also charged with felony possession of Valium and cocaine. Despite the infraction, show creator David E. Kelly kept Downey on the show. However, when Downey was arrested once again for being under the influence of drugs in April 2001, he was dismissed from the series. His arc ended unceremoniously, with Larry having abandoned Ally before their wedding, leaving only a note. Downey has since made quite a comeback in the industry, most notably as Tony Stark aka Iron Man, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The actor is now set to make a return to Marvel as Doctor Doom in the upcoming films Avengers Doomsday and Avengers Secret Wars. Isaiah Washington in Grey's Anatomy One actor who scrubbed in at Seattle Grace Hospital was asked to scrub out after three seasons on the ABC mainstay Grey's Anatomy. That actor? Isaiah Washington. His role as Dr. Preston Burke earned Washington two NAACP Image Awards, but awards weren't enough to keep the star from getting the boot in 2007. According to writer Harry Worksman in the tell-all book How to Save a Life The Inside Story of Grey's Anatomy, one day, Washington was becoming visibly angered by co-star Patrick Dempsey's late arrival on set. When Dempsey finally arrived, Washington pushed him up against the wall and said, "'You can't talk to me the way you talk to that little expletive, T.R.' That expletive was a homophobic slur in reference to co-star T.R. Knight, who is gay." A few days following the incident, Knight would come out publicly in the pages of People magazine, choosing to take control over rumors that began circulating as a result of the altercation. At that time, Washington was spared, but it all fell apart at the Golden Globes sometime later. As series creator Shonda Rhimes was talking to reporters after Grey's Anatomy won the 2007 Golden Globe for Best Drama Series, Washington stepped in front of her and grabbed the microphone. Not only did he deny that the incident ever happened, but he also foolishly repeated the slur on air. Washington issued a public apology four days later, but it wasn't good enough. Six months after the incident at the Golden Globes, ABC confirmed that they would not be renewing Washington's contract. While the actor went on to have numerous roles in both TV and film, in shows like The 100, he announced his retirement from acting in February 2023. Of his dismissal from Grey's Anatomy, Washington told I Am Entertainment magazine in 2014, "...I don't worry about whether or not the stories I tell will destroy my acting career, because you can't take away something that doesn't exist. They killed the actor in me on June 7, 2007." Thomas Gibson in Criminal Minds Off-screen behavior is often cited as a cause for an actor to be fired, as Thomas Gibson found out when he was let go from CBS' Police Procedural Criminal Minds. Gibson, an original cast member from the series starred in 2005, was ousted from the show in 2016 after a history of off-screen transgressions. In December 2010, the actor allegedly yelled at and shoved assistant director Ian Wolfe, berating Wolfe for confusion surrounding a late-night location shoot. Following this incident, Gibson was mandated to take anger management classes. Then in January 2013, Gibson was arrested on DUI charges, pleading no contest to reckless driving while intoxicated. Staffers would have to drive Gibson to and from the set after Gibson's license was suspended. Finally, in 2016, it was strike three after an on-set fight between Gibson and writer-producer Virgil Williams got physical, prompting producers to fire Gibson once and for all. Kevin Spacey in House of Cards The rise of the Me Too movement in 2017 brought about the downfall of some of Hollywood's biggest names, with film producer Harvey Weinstein being the first and most prominent to face allegations of sexual abuse. Another name that had a very public downfall after being called out by the Me Too movement was actor Kevin Spacey. At the time, Spacey was the lead in the pioneering Netflix series House of Cards, playing Francis J. Frank Underwood, the scheming and ruthless politician who orchestrated his rise to the presidency of the United States through treachery, deception, and even murder. But shortly after accusations against Weinstein came to light, actor Anthony Rapp publicly accused Spacey of sexual misconduct. Alleging that Spacey had made unwanted sexual advances on him at a party in 1986, when Rapp was 14 years old. The same day the allegations were made public, Spacey came out as a gay man while clumsily apologizing to Rapp for his inappropriate behavior while drunk, claiming to have no recollection of the event. The move to come out in public was heavily criticized, with some seeing it as an attempt to divert attention away from Rapp's statements, while others saw it as Spacey carelessly linking being gay with child abuse and other misconduct. Spacey would be found not liable by a jury for the charges stemming from Rapp's claims, but further allegations, including eight employees from the set of House of Cards, would lead to an internal investigation by the series' producer MRC over Spacey's conduct. It all led to Spacey being terminated from the show, with its sixth and final season, which had suspended filming during this time, carrying on without the character, who died off-screen in an apparent overdose. Spacey would also be released from many other projects, including the role of J. Paul Getty in All the Money in the World, a film that underwent extensive reshoots to replace Spacey with actor Christopher Plummer, who would be nominated for an Academy Award for the role. Since then, Spacey has seen a litany of allegations levied against him, with multiple court appearances both stateside and overseas, and while he has yet to be found guilty of the allegations to date, the sheer volume of those claims and the negative press surrounding them has effectively derailed his career. Richard Keel in The Incredible Hulk Sometimes an actor can be fired from a TV series before it even airs, simply because they don't fit the part. Unfortunately, this is what happened while filming the pilot for the hit 1977 CBS series The Incredible Hulk. Long before Mark Ruffalo and Edward Norton transformed into the iconic Marvel character, Bruce Banner looked quite a bit different. The actor originally hired for the gamma-green giant was Richard Keel, most famously known for his role as the James Bond antagonist Jaws. Filming was already underway when a kid on the set commented on how Keel didn't look right and how the Hulk should have big muscles like in the comics. Keel was let go, and the role was instead given to bodybuilder Lou Ferrigno. Once he was decked out in the green paint and colored contacts, Ferrigno certainly looked the part. He is, for many, the definitive on-screen Hulk. However, if you look closely at the pilot episode of The Incredible Hulk, there is one brief moment in which Richard Keel can be seen in green. So did any of these dismissals surprise you, and are there any memorable celebrity firings that we missed? Let us know in the comments below, and stay tuned to Collider, where we'll keep bringing you behind the scenes of iconic movies and shows.