A couple of days ago we covered the story of Mark Schwahn, the creator and showrunner of One Tree Hill and more recently, The Royals, which has been renewed for a fourth season on E!. Schwahn was confirmed to be a serial harasser by 18 women who worked on One Tree Hill and went on the record to all sign a letter detailing his inappropriate touching, sexist and demeaning comments, and emotionally abusive behavior. As we need to celebrate the victories against abusers, I’m happy to report that Schwahn has been suspended from The Royals in the wake of these allegations. Change is happening.
E! and producers Lionsgate Television have suspended showrunner Mark Schwahn from his scripted drama The Royals following allegations about sexual harassment during his time on The CW’s One Tree Hill.
“E!, Universal Cable Productions and Lionsgate Television take sexual harassment allegations very seriously, investigate them thoroughly and independently, and take appropriate action. Lionsgate has suspended Mark Schwahn from The Royals as we continue our investigation,” the companies said Wednesday in a statement.
Season four on The Royals will not be impacted as production on the drama wrapped in September. Season four will air as planned next year.
OK so they already had the season in the can and that was probably an easier decision for them. E! has had issues with predators lately like a lot of other networks, but at least, unlike Netflix, they’re doing something about it. They pulled E! news correspondent Ken Baker off the air after it came out that he harassed several women and they’ve done the right thing by removing Schawhn from The Royals. I wonder if they spoke to the cast and crew of The Royals and if they had strikingly similar stories to the people who had the misfortune of working on One Tree Hill. So I can continue to support E!. There’s so much other entertainment that’s still tainted by the crimes of creators, showrunners, producers and actors though.
Update: The Royals’s Alexandra Park has spoken out about Schwahn:
— Alexandra Park (@AlexandraPark1) November 16, 2017
photos credit: WENN and Getty
He reminds me of the Child Catcher in CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG.
Excellent reference and yes he does!
Ugh. Bye, jerk! Why are people so gross?!
One of the actresses on that show did speak out saying she has witnessed this behavior. She plays Princess Eleanor on the show
It doesn’t matter and this is a very shallow opinion, but that man is an ugly, gross troll. And I believe the ugliness on the inside creeps out onto the outside. He has always been a predator and scumbag, he just worked his way into power and abused it at the highest level. Disgusting.
Good.
Good. I know most of these predators won’t end up in jail, but for some of them, losing their careers will hurt almost as much. And it is kind of a fitting punishment, because they have probably destroyed the careers of many of their victims.
Ugh. I’m glad he’s suspended. People shouldn’t act that way. It looks like there have been other statements from people on the show as well: http://www.vulture.com/2017/11/mark-schwahn-suspended-from-the-royals-amid-allegations.html