One year ago, F. Murray Abraham was fired from AppleTV’s Mythic Quest. The circumstances seemed mysterious – no one knew what had happened behind the scenes, but it felt like something absolutely went down. Now, one year later, we’re finding out what went down. Abraham was facing two accusations of sexual misconduct on set, and the show’s creator and star Rob McElhenney was only told after the second incident. Which is when Rob was like “he’s got to go.”
F. Murray Abraham’s sudden exit from “Mythic Quest” was the result of two accusations of sexual misconduct, according to a new report. Abraham, 83, who portrayed head video game writer C.W. Longbottom, departed the Apple TV+ series unexpectedly in April 2022 between its second and third seasons, with production studio Lionsgate merely confirming his exit.
“Beyond that, we do not comment on matters concerning personnel,” the studio added at the time, with no additional comment from Abraham.
Now, Rolling Stone reports that the “White Lotus” star’s on-set behavior raised at least two concerns. The first incident resulted in Abraham receiving a warning and being told to stay away from some of the show’s actresses, a production source claimed to the publication. The second incident, which was brought to creator and star Rob McElhenney’s attention, prompted the Oscar-winning “Amadeus” star’s firing.
Lionsgate said in a statement Monday that it takes “allegations of misconduct seriously and investigate[s] them thoroughly.” However, the company added, “As a matter of corporate policy, we do not discuss our personnel actions.”
This reminds me a little bit of the Frank Langella situation around this time last year as well – remember that? Langella was working on a Netflix production and he refused to adhere to the blocking or listen to the intimacy coordinator, wrongly believing that he could inappropriately touch his female costars any way he wanted. The actresses also went to management and Langella was fired swiftly, much to his dismay. It absolutely sounds like something similar happened with Abraham – he was putting his hands (or worse) on his female costars, and he got one warning, then he kept doing it. It makes me wonder about The White Lotus Season 2 too – Abraham booked that job concurrently with his Mythic Quest work. TWL started filming in February 2022. Hm.
Photos courtesy of Getty, Avalon Red.
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- F. Murray Abraham attends The Premiere Of Apple TV+’s “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet” in Los Angeles on Wednesday, January 29th 2020Photograph: © PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com,Image: 563195210, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com, Model Release: no, Credit line: PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- F. Murray Abraham attends The Premiere Of Apple TV+’s “Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet” in Los Angeles on Wednesday, January 29th 2020Photograph: © PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com,Image: 563195303, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Avalon): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com, Model Release: no, Credit line: PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – OCTOBER 20: American actor F. Murray Abraham arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of HBO’s Original Series ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2 held at Goya Studios on October 20, 2022 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 732295707, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: F. Murray Abraham, Credit line: David Acosta / Image Press Agency / Avalon
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- HOLLYWOOD, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, USA – OCTOBER 20: American actor F. Murray Abraham arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of HBO’s Original Series ‘The White Lotus’ Season 2 held at Goya Studios on October 20, 2022 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 732295726, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: , Model Release: no, Pictured: F. Murray Abraham, Credit line: David Acosta / Image Press Agency / Avalon
This seems surprising….is it surprising? I don’t really know a lot about F. Murray Abraham.
Good on McElhenney for taking action decisively and relatively quickly but, he wasn’t told after the *first* incident? I wonder why.
I wonder if Rob McElhenney has a no tolerance policy for these sorts of things, so he wasn’t told as a way to protect Abraham? ( knowing that if Rob knew he would fire him immediately, but after the second episode there was no choice?) Or maybe the actress in question didn’t want rob told? IDK, but it seems weird that he was told after the second incident and Abraham was then immediately fired, but no one told Rob after the first incident.
We love Mythic Quest but are only two episodes into the newest season. I’ll just say, I don’t think his departure is a loss. They really overworked his storyline last season IMO. So when I didn’t see him, I just figured the producers agreed with that lol.
Based on events at my workplace years ago, I think it’s reasonable to assume that maybe the first incident wasn’t the first but just the first one that clearly crossed a line after a string of incidents that were just him testing the waters. You know, seeing how far he could go with people who were unsure of how to handle it. Then he went too far but the person didn’t want to be the one to make a fuss and wasn’t aware that McElhenny would actually not tolerate this. The second time grandpa maybe went so far that everyone realized he wouldn’t stop.
I’m just guessing here. At my workplace the guy harrassed a very young employee who directly reported to him. He was weird with me as well but just uncomfortably personal and not really crossing lines. Plus I used to work in the service industry and my baseline is off sometimes. After he was fired and it all came out, I was not surprised though. My boss was pissed nobody had said anything. I very firmly let her know that the fish rots from the head and she and management need to re-think their strategy because if your employees don’t trust you, that’s on you. They want to know but they had not communicated that sufficiently.
Weird considering Rob’s #1 show (Sunny) is produced by a repeated sexual offender.
…..wait, who?
Who is that?
Fred Savage?
If she’s talking about Fred Savage, they got rid of him as a producer years ago, they’re on season 15 and he hasn’t been there since season 5 I believe. I don’t think there was any love lost there either: back when the Sunny cast was still doing the Dayman/Nightman tour, at one point Rob introduced Fred to the audience as, “This is our producer, he’s a real asshole!” in a “joking but not really” type of manner.
Huh. Somehow I missed the Frank Langella incident. Old white men….. it’s a shame they can’t adjust. They’re both fantastic actors.
Like, how hard is it to refrain from touching people without consent at work. I’m trying to remember the last time I had physical contact with someone at work… and I can’t.
And it’s notable that these situations rarely if ever involve the guy “misconducting” UP the food chain, their boss, the exec producer, etc, but instead the action it aimed at someone with less power in the situation. Almost as if they are aware that what they are doing is wrong so they only pull it where they think they can get away with it.
Kind of like domestic abusers who go off on their partners and kids because of “anger issues” or whatever, but somehow are able to refrain from doing so at their boss, the judge in traffic court, the big burly guy on the corner.
These dudes! Even at 83 they do this 💩. Makes me sad for actresses back in the day because they were just expected to put up with being pawed, groped, and treated inappropriately. And there was no such thing as an “intimacy coordinator”. You can imagine what went on in love scenes. Gross.
Honestly sometimes thinking about this very thing – the pure sh$t women as well as POC have endured from the movie industry, makes me want to just say F IT and not partake in this “art form” because it just seems to be exploitive and awful.
My first thought was that he must have been doing this sh*t for years and finally got caught. He’s my dad’s age ffs. Those poor actresses who have been putting up with this for years. I’m glad he got caught because better late than never.
It happens everywhere, we just hear about the famous ones. I can look back decades and comfortably tell you, imo, 75% to 80% of men cross lines at any given age. I had troubles as a teenager and as a woman in my 20s, 30s and even 40s with inappropriate touching, leaning in, sexual misconduct, harassment, all of it. I had a loud mouth, and when I was in my 20s, in order to “fight back,” (and still keep a job) was to embarrass the shit out of them, loudly, in front of people. I’d do the same thing if a neanderthal was honing in someone else. Loud and heard, lol, I’m kinda chuckling at the audacity and utterly cluelessness about the gravity of the situation and all the consequences of my mouth in overdrive. It was the only way I knew worked. I’m so thankful we are where we are right now. It’s not enough, I know, but y’all….omg, it was soooooooooooooo bad.
Bless you. ❤️
The more these firings are publicized the more likely it will get through to some of these relics’ heads. This happened way back a year ago (April ‘22?) and we are just now hearing about it. So they still have been protected by Lionsgate “not commenting on personnel matters”.
Ugh, why? Why can’t these guys be decent people, or at least learn and grow from society, from Me Too, from their own mistakes and STOP groping women?!
I”m sad to hear this because he is such a great actor, but I’m glad he got fired. I just wish it would make a difference, but it’s probably too late for that with him.
Again imagine that your job is – all you gotta do is show up on time, and between action/cut, repeat lines written by someone else, be creative and follow the setup, outside of that be professional/cordial to others….and you get a check with 5,6,7 digits on it. And they can’t do it!!! You’re not a construction worker, an iron worker, a miner, a surgeon. Just an actor