Clayne Crawford thought he was Jesus, but he was just a replaceable douche

FOX Fall Premiere Party

It began in April of this year, as Clayne Crawford and Damon Wayans were finishing up their latest season of Fox’s Lethal Weapon. It started with rumors of Clayne’s toxic behavior, his verbal abuse of below-the-line staffers and coworkers. Clayne offered up an apology which did nothing but convince me that he really is a total douchebag. Soon he was fired, and replaced with Seann William Scott. That didn’t stop the stories from leaking out – Damon Wayans detailed on social media how aggressively toxic Clayne was on and off the set, and someone on the show leaked audio of Clayne acting like a total douche to Wayans and other coworkers.

Before that story broke in April, I wouldn’t have been able to pick Clayne Crawford out of a line-up. It was the first time I had even heard his name. He does have fans, but let’s be real: it’s not like he’s some massive A-lister. I would struggle to even call him a B-lister. He was a dude on a successful television action-drama, which makes him C-list in the grand scheme of things. But the unearned entitlement, the toxic white privilege and the white mediocrity was oozing off of him like he had ten Oscars on his shelf. And before anyone is like “what does race have to do with it” – he verbally harassed and abused his African-American costar, a 57-year-old man who has been working in the industry for 30 years. And show me where a young actor of color would have been given the unchecked privilege to behave the way Clayne has behaved, and is still behaving. Clayne sat down for the Drinkin’ Bros podcast, and he told “his side” of the story. Some highlights:

The claim that he was yelling at children next to a pool during filming: He says it was a “blatant f—king lie.” He stated that they were taking eight hours to film a three-page scene and everyone was getting frustrated. He said he was yelling at the AD whose job it was to keep things quiet on set because he felt the entire thing felt “creatively disrespectful…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.”

The tapes of him losing his sh-t on everyone: “I knew that they were going to release these tapes because they’d been blackmailing me with them for months and months and months, the entire second season… And I have all the text messages from these people and voicemails from these people saying, ‘Obviously you’re not the problem, but you’ve got to get ahead of this because you know they’re going to use those tapes against you.’”

He spoke to Warner Bros. Television boss Peter Roth about his fights with Damon Wayans: “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 f—k, 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.’” He added that the entire tapes weren’t played, and on them, he told Wayans that he could have been replaced by Kenan Thompson or Steve Harvey.

He didn’t think he would be fired & replaced: “It’s a little different when you replace Becky or the mom off of Fresh Prince. Like, if they’d replaced the Fresh Prince, we’d have been like, ‘What the f—k are we watching anyway?’ That’s why I just didn’t think it was possible,” he said. He claims the network never called him to tell him he was let go. He learned the news on Twitter.

[From Us Weekly]

“Hollywood is very sensitive, so I should not have screamed and yelled, right, because it’s a bunch of very delicate flowers out there.” Yes, how dare those very delicate flowers would prefer…*checks notes*… to work in an environment which doesn’t include some douchebag with a Napoleon complex screaming at them 24-7? How dare those sensitive souls just want to earn their paychecks by doing their jobs without being harassed by a toxic bro? Basically, Clayne Crawford thought he was the Jesus of Lethal Weapon and he could do whatever he wanted because they would never replace The Star. And Warner Bros was like “we’ll replace you with Seann William Scott and no one will even notice, you arrogant little sh-t.”

FOX Fall Premiere Party 2017

Photos courtesy of WENN.

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75 Responses to “Clayne Crawford thought he was Jesus, but he was just a replaceable douche”

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  1. RBC says:

    I can’t decide if his next television appearance will be Celebrity Big Brother or Dancing with the Stars? He certainly has the horrible personality to be the “villain “ on CBB, but the way he dances around the fact he is a douche nozzle at the bottom of the bargain bin at Walmart, makes me think Dancing with the Stars is a better fit for him

    • detritus says:

      If he was a Brit my bet would be on Ex on the Beach. They love abusive and volatile wankers.

    • whatWHAT? says:

      yeah, he didn’t do himself any favors with this interview. he STILL comes off as an entitled dude-bro who thinks his sh*t don’t stink and that people should just put up with him yelling at them.

      it’s typical of an abuser to blame the victim – “you’re too sensitive” instead of acknowledging that THEY are the ones with the problem. and I love how he mentions all the text message etc from people telling him he’s not the problem. oh, that TOTALLY PROVES IT then, huh? more sycophantic behavior.

      I do like how you came to your decision on what show he’d be on next, but I disagree. I think a show like Big Brother or Survivor would be more his speed. some show where you have to “scheme” to win.

    • Melbelle says:

      He is on a Netflix show currently, and has been for several years. It’s called Rectify, and it is actually very good (I encourage everyone to watch it as he is supporting cast, not the main character). That said, he certainly seems like a douchebag – and maybe not coincidentally, his character on that Netflix show is also one. Perhaps it’s art imitating life.

    • Marianne says:

      He’s actually unbelievably good on Lethal Weapon. Amazing actually.

      The chemistry between him and Daman was also incredible. Very good show. It sounds like he’s got a temper though. That said, firing him? To me, he was the LEAD of the show. Feels like there is something else going on here. Or perhaps it really is the tenor of the times.

      One thing that is interesting is that at least if we gauge from Twitter evidence, he has friends and supporters from the cast. So, that’s interesting.

  2. Gine says:

    People with no self-awareness are so fascinating. It’s like, you really don’t hear yourself, huh?

    • Myriam says:

      Right?

      “He added that the entire tapes weren’t played, and on them, he told Wayans that he could have been replaced by Kenan Thompson or Steve Harvey.”

      When I began to read that, I thought he was going to say Damon said worse, but it basically was, “There’s more to the tape that wasn’t shown, like how I diminished Damon’s 30 year history in the entertainment world by saying he was replaceable *insert random af C-lister black comedians*.” No offense to Kenan. I love him.

      • holly hobby says:

        Yeah when I read that I was thinking “how does this help your cause?” Sorry the Wayans have been around the industry for years. They are well known. On the other hand, I never heard about this moron until now.

      • Des says:

        That is literally the part that jumped out at me. Like, he said that as some kind of exonerating fact. WTH is wrong with this guy?

      • eto says:

        Ugh this part gave me a rage headache. He’s a racist asshole. Damon, Steve, and Keenan are SO different and 1000% not interchangeable because of their skin color !!!!

      • tealily says:

        I know!!! What is his point with adding that comment? What a colossal a**hole.

      • tcbc says:

        Also Steve and Keenan, while less famous than Damon, are more famous than Clayne. How dense do you have to be to assume the suits are going to toss the guy with the name recognition in order to keep someone with virtually none?

      • whatWHAT? says:

        “How dense do you have to be…”

        not dense. white and privileged.

      • tealily says:

        Also “insert Black guy here” is pretty racist.

    • DesertReal says:

      My thoughts exactly.
      This guy and his shitty mustache need to pack up and go back to Jawbone, Kentucky.

  3. detritus says:

    “Hollywood is very sensitive, so I should not have screamed and yelled, right, because it’s a bunch of very delicate flowers out there.”

    🎶He’s a wanker, giant wanker! 🎶

    Srs- look at how he’s normalized emotional abuse. This is not a healthy or safe man to be around.

    • Esmom says:

      My thoughts, too. And I can’t believe he really thought he was irreplaceable. He truly did himself zero favors with this interview.

    • tealily says:

      Yeah, name another work environment where that behavior would be considered appropriate. There isn’t one! How did the guy even get this far in his career?

    • j says:

      You guys, he wasn’t screaming at the children – he was screaming at an assistant for not screaming at the children. Totally different. Fine. Brave, even. #hetoo.

      • Tiffany :) says:

        He tries to add details to excuse himself, but they make me suspicious.

        A scene with children NO WAY could have taken 8 hours to film in one day. They can’t film on set for that long if they are under 18. Depending on the age and time of year, 4 hours is the max, then there needs to be hours of tutoring.

  4. Gaby says:

    I know there are some people who will come here and say that Wayans isn’t a saint either, listing all of his problems, but this isn’t about that. Wayans was the famous one, he has years and years of success, his family is comedy royalty, they are not perfect, but they are the Wayans, from Living Color to White Chicks. People like them. And this guy felt entitled to abuse him, to diminish an entire career, to abuse others, and still thought he couldn’t be touched because he was just as important to the show as Will Smith was to Fresh Prince?? White male toxic mediocrity.

    • jessamine says:

      God, this. I started rage-laughing reading his quotes because … I mean, even if your coworker wasn’t comedy royalty, just imagine having the audacity to live your life this way? Hollywood is a bunch of delicate little flowers because they won’t let me abuse them? Umm, pretty sure no workplaces are okay with that. Good luck getting a job in the real world, dude.

      Sail on, Damon.

    • DesertReal says:

      He thinks he’s as talented as Will Smith?
      What a mf-ing insult to Will Smith!
      The gall of this bland Becker!

  5. SM says:

    So the show runners never knew anything, no one complained about this guy’s behavior? Only when the tapes were made public (or were about to), only then he gets fired? Colour me surprised. Also he should have taken a cue when a person doing Macbeth was fired from the conteporary little interpretation of Macbethian story called House of Cards. It is also safe to say that show was known much better than this douchbag’s show. But probably he was too far up his own ass to notice.

  6. grabbyhands says:

    I mean, I guess when you’re that far down you just go for broke?

    Pretty much no one knew who this guy was when he was cast in this show, so it cracks me up that he’s still yapping about this like he is some Hollywood heavyweight throwing his weight and prestige around. The entitled white guy arrogance knows no bounds.

    “Hollywood is very sensitive, so I should not have screamed and yelled, right, because it’s a bunch of very delicate flowers out there.”

    Interesting choice of words – are we going to see him wearing a MAGA hat soon?

  7. wendywoo says:

    Two words: Alex Pettyfer.

    • Dara says:

      Two more words from an earlier era: David Caruso.

      • Pandy says:

        YES! David Caruso – great comparison. I watch Lethal Weapon and he was good in it .. but his character was a little OTT as well. I do prefer Damon Wayans. And I’ve never heard of Clayne prior to this show. Damon, of course, but not this guy. Can’t believe he dug a bigger hole for himself.

  8. Jane says:

    I don’t know who this guy is at all.

    But I will watch the show now that he is gone.

  9. Lindy79 says:

    “Hollywood is very sensitive, so I should not have screamed and yelled, right, because it’s a bunch of very delicate flowers out there.”

    Its a workplace you asshat, that’s the reason you shouldn’t have. No workplace should be a place for that kind of abuse.
    He sounds like such a Trump supporter, calling everyone else a snowflake when really he’s the biggest one.

    I hope the show does 100 times better now he’s gone.

    This sounds SO much like Jason Bateman’s defense of Tambour after he was exposed for abusive behaviour on Arrested Development. It’s the acting process, oh fuck off it is not!!

  10. Abby says:

    I’m confused,was the podcast supposed to help his case………

  11. Mrreow says:

    It’s not like I condone violence, but my god, he’s got such a punchable face. I hope those delicate flowers black-list his pompous, delusional, mediocre little self back to no-name status.

    • Fluster says:

      Thank you so much. I seriously came here wanting to say that, but didn’t want to ruin the tone, since everyone has legitimately fine criticism. Holy god, though, I just want to pop him several times. Not even hard. Just enough for him to get that shocked, jaw-dropped, indignant look on his face before he goes crying to mommy. He’s Dudley Dursley.

  12. HelloSunshine says:

    Doesn’t he have a wife and kids? He must be an absolute nightmare at home :/
    But yes, I’m sure he thinks this will be what turns his career around because he’s so full of himself and short sighted.

    My fave part is definitely him saying Hollywood is full of delicate flowers because people want to do their jobs on set without being screamed at and abused. Gosh Hollywood, maybe if we were all less liberal and snowflake-like, we’d be way more into to just taking emotional abuse 🙄

  13. Alexandria says:

    No lesson learnt there. And well, we know privileged white men always get chance after chance after chance.

  14. Reef says:

    This was a great read. It pretty much confirmed all the bad things said about him – I, STILL, wonder why Hilarie Burton decided to jump in and defend him.
    It’s always interesting when men lose their temper ie can’t control their emotions, it’s other people that are the delicate flowers for not shrugging off your emotional outburst.
    It’s really absurd to think the lead actor is more put out than production. What he said was true, he could’ve literally just gone to his trailer and chilled. If there were children involved, it would’ve allowed them and production to regroup.
    Like looooonnnggg after the actors wrap for the day, production is still around.

    • Amelie says:

      Did Hilarie Burton act with him in something? That’s interesting considering she and the rest of the One Tree Hill cast came out in droves to accuse Mark Schwan, the show creator, of abuse. And I think that’s why Hilarie left the show early. I stopped watching after maybe a season and a half but I always wondered why she left the show early when it was still successful.

  15. Lala11_7 says:

    His White Entitlement is so loud, it enters a space three whole days before he does…

    HE THOUGHT HE WAS THE STAR OF THE SHOW?!?!

    Damon has been in the business since the EARLY 80s…had stolen the screen from folks like Eddie Murphy in his PRIME! Had a hit sitcom that ran for years…starred in action films…starred in an iconic comedy show…AND comes from a comedic dynasty…It was DAMON that made the network even consider green-lighting this BS show…and he actually equated HIMSELF TO THE BEING THE FRESH PRINCE?!?!

    This is the BECKIEST thing I have heard in a VERY long time….

  16. babco says:

    The blind angle is wide on that one.

  17. girl_ninja says:

    It’s a little different when you replace Becky or the mom off of Fresh Prince. Like, if they’d replaced the Fresh Prince, we’d have been like, ‘What the f—k are we watching anyway?’

    It sure is and it turns out that you’re Becky Clayne , not the Fresh Prince. Peace! ✌

  18. Gobo says:

    Christ. He’s totally oblivious. When you have a problem with everyone it’s time to start considering the possibility that you are the problem.

  19. Juliette says:

    I met Damon once in Vancouver. He was so friendly and gracious. Took pics & signed autographs for anyone that asked. Lovely man. This nobody seems like an entitled douche.

  20. Veronica S. says:

    “Hollywood is just a bunch of delicate flowers!” says the man whining to a journalist after getting fired from his job for behavior that would also get him fired in pretty much any other profession. It’s amazed to me how society has managed to convince everybody that women are the irrationally emotional ones when you literally have white men throwing temper tantrums over a bad work day.

  21. Other Renee says:

    I guess he didn’t get the memo that when you’re fired for being a douche, you’re supposed to use your interview opportunities to apologize and show how much you’ve grown from the self-reflection you’ve supposedly done.

    Buh-bye big baby boy.

    • BlueNailsBetty says:

      He is probably studying at the Louis CK School of Traumatized Douchebags.

      • Dee Kay says:

        I was totally thinking of Louis CK’s “comeback.” Like, dudes, whatever the right moves are, you are making none of them. Sit down and shut up and don’t let anything come out of your mouths for a loooooong time, that would be a start.

  22. Cindy says:

    You can tell just how bad he was from the fact they fired him. Delusional as he may be thinking he’s an A-lister, he does have a point that Hollywood never fires their lead actors. So the fact they DID fire him goes to show you just how terrible he must’ve been to have around.

    The delusion of him thinking he’s a bigger star than Damon Wayans. I don’t like Wayans at all, but he’s an actual celebrity at least. I would’ve never learned who this guy is if I didn’t just happen to visit this blog today.

  23. Algernon says:

    In the whole interview no one brought up the stunts that went wrong in the episodes he directed? Or that he hit someone on set? He didn’t get fired just because he yelled at people, he got fired because he was putting people in physical harm.

  24. neocleo says:

    I LOVED Seann William Scott in “Goon” and although I’ve not seen the TV show, I can see him playing that part to perfection.

    • whatWHAT? says:

      I’ve loved him in just about everything he’s been in. he’s FUNNY, and a pretty decent actor. plus…he’s kinda cute.

      (if you haven’t seen “Role Models”, I highly recommend it. way funnier than I expected, and it’s got Paul Rudd and Jane Lynch in it.)

  25. judith reeder says:

    He may have been a douche behind the scenes, but was a fantastic Martin Riggs, IMO

    • Aleteci says:

      Damon Wayan’s isn’t great either, if you look up what the crew thinks about him, Clayne and Damon are bad as each either, Clayne got fired because he cost less, there’s a reason why warner bros didn’t want to defend Damon.

    • Dee Kay says:

      He was great as Riggs. I hope Scott will be great as the new character. I loved Lethal Weapon and hope to be able to continue to watch it. But I’d rather a show be canceled than allow some cretin to keep abusing his co-workers.

  26. Ryme says:

    That’s the kind of interview that can end a Hollywood career. Good luck getting a job on any Warner Bros. productions in the future. As a white man who is a star of hit network show, Crawford must have done something so, so bad in the eyes of the studio execs to get himself fired.

    • Aleteci says:

      Maybe you should look up more behind the scenes, and read how bad Damon Wayans can be to work with, then realise why Clayne got frustrated with his bullshit.

  27. Camille Damer says:

    It’s disappointing you think a person with 10 Oscars can act like this.

  28. Leigh says:

    Never heard of him, and I hope he never comes back, because the more interesting issue here is HOW THE HELL IS DAMON WAYANS 57?!! Holy hell, he looks amazing, love him!

  29. Fluffy Princess says:

    Holy shizz, I knew that guy was a douche canoe when he was fired, but THIS–GAHHH! I hope he never works again. D*&k.

    I met Damon Wayans because he was literally walking in the alley behind my home. It was surreal! There I am with my husband, getting out of our car after breakfast one Sunday, and Damon Wayans is walking down the alley. What?!? He was so, so nice! He’s really tall too, at least 6’2, and he looks EXACTLY like he does on TV/movies. We said how much we liked his movies and he was very gracious and just said, “Thank you, thank you, I’m glad you enjoy them.”
    (There is a church by my place and he was on his way to church with his girlfriend at the time.)

  30. Eveil says:

    All that I have to say in response is… “Who’s this?”

  31. Aleteci says:

    I’ve never seen so many stupid comments in my life, holy crap.

    • Jax says:

      Clayne Crawford is acting like an absolute douche in this interview and all your comments are whatabout Damon Wayans…

      Guess what. Clayne Crawford is a nobody compared to Damon Wayans. Even if Wayans was a douche canoe too, you don get to act the way Crawford did and actually not get fired.

  32. Electric Tuba says:

    The Wayans have been my heros since before I grew bewbs. The idea that a family could work together to create groundbreaking comedy… oh man I love them all. Sincerely. Clown Crawfish can take his punching bag face back to Bama. Your zip code is showing, boy.

  33. Valerie Purvis says:

    Say “hello” to:
    Katherine Heigl
    George Lazenby
    Josh Hartnett
    Mischa Barton
    Taylor Lautner
    Kellan Lutz
    Jessica Biel
    Lindsay Lohan
    Kevin Jonas
    Estella Warren
    Ashley Greene
    Chance Crawford

  34. Misty says:

    I listened to the whole episode before I made a judgment. Im not full of rage at the guy. but he needs to think hard before he speaks more on this matter, and there are holes in his story.

    He doesn’t necessarily say that Wayans was a bad guy, but that DW was checked out and didnt want to do the show and became difficult. He wanted to do a different show, but got talked into doing this LW pilot and said fine I’ll do it, expecting it to not get picked up and then he’d do the project he really wanted. So when that didn’t happen and the show picked up he was not happy. And I think he probably really annoyed DW because of his need to control and rewrite and all that. He said staff called Wayans Lee for Lazy entitled elitist. There was a lot more than just what was put in the articles.

    The interviewer is his friend, so it wasn’t exactly an unbiased show. He seemed to be more angry about Fox and the producers than at Wayans.

    Honestly, I think the real truth is somewhere in the middle here. You can be a nice guy in person and a shit to work with, especially when you are doing something you don’t want to do.

    I think he was telling the truth as far as how he “saw” it, but he’s due for some self reflection. I think he saw it as his big break and wanted to “take charge” and make a name, but he did it in the wrong way and pissed off people with more power than him.

    He also intoned that SWS is bffs with Damon Jr, which I thought was both petty and interesting at the same time.

    Also, he said that most of the staff was let go, even make up, so I thought that was kind of odd. It’s an hour long interview. I doubt it will change anyone’s mind about him, but I think there is a smidge bit of room for some of his thoughts on Wayans behavior as well. It didnt sound like there was much control on the set by producers and directors so I can see why there was calamity on set and unhappy actors.

    Basically he made his own bed and has to lay in it. I’m still not watching the show. The preview looks horrid and I like Wayans and Scott as actors a lot, but not that much.

  35. launicaangelina says:

    There’s an anonymous crew member from LW on Twitter who keeps defending Clayne. This person has a weird cult-like following. These people act like Clayne invented acting and was the greatest actor of all time. They talk him up so much and can be cruel about Damon. It’s interesting to watch the dichotomy between commenters here and Clayne supporters on Twitter.

    • Misty says:

      He definitely portrayed himself as the creative drive on the show. Could be true, but could also be all in his head. I tend to like to think there is always more to a story on both sides, honestly. I don’t think Wayans is an angel, but I can also see why he didnt like working with Crawford.

  36. NIKKI says:

    I really liked the show. Both actors on screen were a perfect pairing. I didn’t think it would be my cup of tea, but it got better as the seasons evolved.

    How it ended does make room for Clayne’s character Riggs to be replaced. It was a perfect cliff hanger, so the show’s continuity shouldn’t be affected, but, based on the last scene, it seemed pretty obvious Clayne might not be coming back (amidst all this drama being exposed).

    I’ll watch to see how Scott and Wayans do. Otherwise it’s not a big deal for me to continue or stop watching all together as it was just something to pass the time, generally.

    -N