F. Murray Abraham reportedly kicked off Mythic Quest over sexual misconduct
According to a Rolling Stone report, multiple concerns were raised about F. Murray Abraham on set of Mythic Quest before his exit
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F. Murray Abraham’s Mythic Quest exit was due to allegations of sexual misconduct, according to a new report from Rolling Stone. The actor is coming off a Golden Globe-nominated performance in the second season of The White Lotus, but he departed the Apple TV+ series ahead of its third season. His character, C.W. Longbottom, was a main role in the cast, and was revealed to have had a terminal illness and decided to drive off a cliff Thelma & Louise style when the show returned in November 2022.
When it was originally announced that Abraham would not be returning, production company Lionsgate released a statement saying, “F. Murray Abraham will not be returning to season three of Mythic Quest. Beyond that, we do not comment on matters concerning personnel.” Now, Rolling Stone reveals that “at least two concerns” were raised about the 85-year-old actor.
After one of those “concerns” was brought forward, Abraham was “given a warning and told to keep away from some of the show’s actresses,” according to a Rolling Stone source. Abraham was apparently let go “After a second incident was brought to creator and star Rob McElhenney’s attention,” per the outlet.
While neither Abraham nor McElhenny nor any of the rest of the cast and crew have yet made a statement on the subject, Lionsgate released a statement to Rolling Stone which read, “We take allegations of misconduct seriously and investigate them thoroughly. As a matter of corporate policy, we do not discuss our personnel actions.”
Abraham’s role had been reduced in the second season when the production had to work around COVID protocols because McElhenny “did not want to be known as the person who got F. Murray Abraham very, very ill,” he said on a TCA press tour in 2021 (via Variety). Abraham, who reportedly wanted to return, had to be convinced by McElhenny to shoot his scenes remotely; when he returned to filming in person, it was “with very small amounts of people on camera.”
“It’s a bummer to not have Murray in this season,” McElhenney later told Variety after Abraham’s departure. “But we recognize that C.W. is a beloved character and obviously a huge part of the show. So, we made sure that we have a really fitting tribute to him.”
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Fuck. First Langella. Now this.
Don’t watch MQ, but I’m wondering if he was filming the second season of The White Lotus concurrently and was still in the headspace of his horny, loves to hit on women character. (If, you know, he hasn’t had a covered up or open history of doing this behavior.) Not an excuse, of course.
I mean…that would certainly fit the definition of an excuse if he tried to use it.
I know. It wasn’t meant to be. I was just struck with the coincidence of he playing that character and these charges. I don’t know if he ever played someone like that before, and that’s why Mike White hired him, or if White knew him personally and saw that side of him. I’m pretty disappointed about these allegations. I really like him as an actor (his performance in Grand Budapest Hotel was exceptional). But, guess really old man doesn’t know boundaries is pretty common these days. Not another excuse!
More like “Grind Booty Pest”! Right guys?
That isn’t a valid excuse. but the irony certainly struck me, that apparently in white lotus he was playing himself!
Yeah, I guess he might have been!
Not an excuse, just a … what the fuck was that?
“Not an excuse, of course.”
You might want to revisit your comment then, because it sure as fuck comes off like an excuse.
That was also his character on Mythic Quest. He was a bumbling Lothario constantly saying things that were inappropriate and cringy. It was funny in the context of the show but not if he was staying in character with the rest of the cast.
He could try to use the Daniel Day Lewis Defense. “I was in character! I stay in character the entire time I’m on set! Imagine how much worse this would be if I were playing Christy Brown and demanded that everyone raise drinking glasses to my lips!”
He’s worse in MQ
Nah, the timelines don’t match up. Season 2 of MQ was shot in late 2020 and early 2021. At that point, season 1 of White Lotus hadn’t even premiered yet (July 2021), and everyone at that point thought that WL would be a limited series with no subsequent seasons. So when Abraham was filming season 2 of MQ, nobody had even put pen to paper on a second season of White Lotus yet.
The right thought here is “Huh, that’s quite ironic!” and not “Huh, that must be why”.
“The right thought here is “Huh, that’s quite ironic!””
No, the right thought would have been “What a coincidence…but probably not, now that I think about it”.
Yeah I figured it was this. Ah well. Glad Rob did the right thing.
“The Gang Sacks a Pervert”
Rob Justice won’t stand for that kinda thing.
Honestly, a little crazy that of his shows, It’s Always Sunny isn’t the one with misconduct allegations.
If everything they do is considered misconduct, it’s hard to single anyone out.
It’s one of the few shows where the creators seem to understand that if the characters do awful things, they shouldn’t be portrayed as good people. The level of self-awareness you have to have to make a joke like “the implication” work (or basically anything Dennis ever does) is high enough that sexual misconduct seems unlikely. They’ve been able to walk a thin line for over a decade, so I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s one of the better shows to work on in this regard. Although they did have a convicted child molester on the show (before the allegations came out).
A good point someone once made was comparing Frank Reynolds on It’s Always Sunny to Pierce Hawthorne on Community. They’re both horrendously sexist and racist old white guys who act out in absurd and offensive ways.The difference is, Frank is the antithesis of Danny DeVito, who’s an extremely caring person with outspoken progressive ideals. While Pierce is…a little too close to actual Chevy Chase, a racist egotist and notorious asshole. DeVito has fun playing Frank because he’s so unlike Frank, he can let loose and go back to being a normal person. Chase hated playing Pierce, because the joke was about him.
Maybe it’s like what they said about Richard Pryor and Bill Cosby: Richard was filthy onstage but the kindest sweetest man IRL. Cosby made a big deal out of never working blue and appointed himself the moral police of all black men and, well…
If these allegations are true, then F F. Murray Abraham
He reportedly kept waggling his eyebrows and saying “What, no one wants to eff Murray Abraham?”
Is that all he waggled?
He’s 85; the hips ain’t what they used to be.
At 85, you hips are the last thing you are worried about not working
It’s some kind of very dark joke that mens’ libidos aren’t just switched off somewhere around 65.
His hips can’t remember if they lied or not
waggle wagglewaggle waggle
I get the gist, Nathan!
But wait! I have one more thing to show you and it’s very important!(pauses)(waggles)
That one really brought it home.
Pretty sure this was an actual episode plotline
Eff Murray Abraham.
Stop, Murray. That’s what got you in this mess to begin with.
His presence in the show (personality, plot structure, etc.) definitely felt missed, so it’s a bummer he couldn’t not be a gross-o. I hope they start introducing new characters into this show in order to fill the void; I think we need some new character dynamics here, it’s starting to grow stale and same-y.
They warned him…!…
He was on Colbert recently talking about how he brings his Oscar to the set of everything he’s working on and hides it somewhere. Could someone have misconstrued his invitation to a rousing game of “Hide The Oscar”?
Seemed like that’s what it was when it went down, what with the statement that was released.
Also, I kicked him out of the baseball glove factory because his face was too wrinkly to be made into one.
I guess the F stands for “fuckin’ creep.”
Mozart can now rest in peace.
He didn’t even last long enough to drive his car off a cliff ( which would have been a stunt man anyway)?
It occurs to me that Megan Ganz left Community because she was being sexually harassed, and then she just ends up right back in the same situation.Poor Megan.
I dunno though do you think as a writer she interacts with the actors a lot? I need to catch up on the Always Sunny Podcast, she’s a great presence there.
I think she’s actually a producer and co-creator of MQ. Could be wrong.
Oh no you’re correct! I didn’t realize.
Is there a reason you assume she’s the victim?
Beyond disappointing to hear. His performance in Amadeus is a marvel, and truly deserving of the Best Actor award Abraham received for it. I’d always felt sorry for him that he didn’t have the career befitting the person who gave such a great performance, and the late career resurgence he experienced beginning with Grand Budapest Hotel seemed overdue.Turns out, he didn’t deserve it.
Let’s not forget his performance in Thirteen Ghosts. At least, I don’t forget it because for some reason that movie is burned into my brain.
lol
“House on Haunted Hill” forced Geoffrey Rush to act with Chris Freakin’ Kattan, which is worth a lot. But “Thirteen Ghosts”… sorry, “Thir13en Ghosts” had F Murray Abraham and Tony Shalhoub on set with Matthew Lillard at his goofiest, and that’s a rare gift. (It also had Shannon Elizabeth being haunted by a nude ghost, which is kind of a sad encapsulation of Shannon Elizabeth ‘s career.) Much as I love Ghost Ship, it didn’t have that kind of chaos. Gabriel Byrne and Juliana Margulies know how to maintain their dignity in garbage.
He treated Meg Tilly terribly on that set. She was set to play one of the leads but hurt herself and had to leave. He also started a rumor that she was having an affair with Tom Hulce even though she was married and he was gay! She tells the whole story on her YouTube channel which is delightful!
Wasn’t there a story recently where he was complaining about intimacy coordinators? EDIT: Oh, it was Frank Langella. Keep an eye on him, too.
You know who never has to deal with intimacy coordinators?Steven Seagal. Although sometimes he does need to answer to civil engineers. “His fully dressed body is lowered over a naked woman like a drawbridge.”
I think of that line so often. Ignatiy was a gift.
That Actually made me laugh out
As someone who’s worked in professional regional theater, the complaining about intimacy coordinators always feels to me like shadowboxing. The profession was started by fight coordinators, and most intimacy coordinators I’ve seen are STILL mostly fight coordinators. They’re just extending the job of choreographing scenes in which an actor could get hurt.
Seems like a weird crossover.
Langella got fired from the House of Usher show Mike Flanagan is doing, so I think he’s covered.
Beat me to it.
Damn it, I suspected this was the case, but was really hoping it wasn’t.
‘That piece a shit up there? i never liked him, I never trusted him.”
No one really thought it was anything else, did they?
Well, this is a classic instance of Exactly What We All Expected When He Was Suddenly Fired.
Fun fact:“Turturro is coming in to play the pederast,” Joel Coen said. “He said he’d do his best F. Murray Abraham.”John Turturro allegedly said this to the brother-directors, back in 1997, when they were casting The Big Lebowski. The fun surreal bit is Turturro was almost certainly thinking of Edward James Olmos; who, around the exact same time, was tied up in Harvey Keitel’s ongoing custody battle with his ex-wife (now re-married to EJO); demanding he answer to charges he’d previously fooled around with a Florida minor (back in ‘92/paying them six-figures to keep hushed up) …unless Turturro knew something about F. Murray that never been previously reported on — unlike w Olmos.re: The Dudes Abide: The Coen Brothers and the Making of The Big Lebowski by Alex Belth