I was waiting it out a bit before I wrote something about F. Murray Abraham’s #MeToo firing from the show “Mythic Quest.”
I didn’t want to jump into any debates until I found out the reasons why he got canned. Now, things are getting a little clearer and, if what he says is true, it was a ridiculous decision on the part of Apple and has, maybe, put a damper on a storied acting career.
“This is a sincere and deeply felt apology,” Abrahams said in a statement shared with IndieWire. “Though never my intention to offend anyone, I told jokes, nothing more, that upset some of my colleagues and as a result lost a great job with wonderful people. I have grown in my understanding from this experience, and I hope they will forgive me.”
The great actor thus follows in the footsteps of fellow senior joke-tellers Bill Murray and Frank Langella both of whom also got canned for trying to make people laugh.
A few days ago, Rolling Stone published a report claiming that Abraham was at the center of two complaints during the Apple TV+ series “Mythic Quest.”
Lionsgate issued a statement regarding the alleged misconduct once the allegations against Abraham were made public.
“We take allegations of misconduct seriously and investigate them thoroughly,” a spokesperson told IndieWire. “As a matter of corporate policy, we do not discuss our personnel actions.”
The 83-year-old Oscar winner delivered one of the major performances of his career last year as the politically incorrect grandfather in Mike White’s “The White Lotus.”
His other major acting credits include roles in “All The Presidents Men,” “Scarface,” “Amadeus,” “The Grand Budapest Hotel” and “Inside Llewyn Davis.”