Unfortunately, it’s not a rarity these days (or the past two decades, frankly) that we lose great TV characters portrayed by immensely talented actors because of their gross mistreatments during production. Just to recall a few: Charisma Carpenter getting fired from “Angel” by Joss Whedon for basically being pregnant (after the director passive-aggressively threatened her multiple times and called her “fat”). Nicollette Sheridan getting written off of “Desperate Housewives” after five years, claiming she was a victim of assault and battery by the creator of the show that she reported and eventually got retaliated against. Or Ruby Rose leaving “Batwoman” after one season because of the toxic and dangerous work environment she had to perform in.
African-American actress Afton Williamson’s case for departing Alexi Hawley’s police procedural, “The Rookie,” is perhaps an even more upsetting and maddening example (but sadly not uncommon in Hollywood). After playing Talia Bishop — a newly promoted training officer of the LAPD — for 20 episodes in the first season between 2018 and 2019, Williamson left the series due to a myriad of alleged offenses done to her, including racial discrimination, harassment, and sexual assault.
After turning down the offer to return in season 2, Williamson took to Instagram in 2019 to share the details of her decision with her fans. She explained that starting as early as the shooting of the pilot, she was getting inappropriate and racially charged comments from the hair department alongside bullying from the executive producers.
Williamson’s treatment was as repulsive, unjust, and infuriating as it gets
Williamson’s poor treatment was paired with alleged sexual harassment from a recurring guest star, which Williamson says later escalated into a sexual assault at the annual wrap party. Williamson then reported the assault to the series’ showrunner Hawley but later found that her complaint was “undocumented” and never reported to the HR department as it was initially promised. She said:
“HR protocol was never adhered to following the above reports given by me to my Showrunner/EP and an investigation was never issued for any of my claims. The only time I was asked to participate in an investigation was after a meeting I called in June following our Season 2 announcement. This meeting included the Showrunner and two other producers as well as my agent and SAG-AFTRA Union Rep. It was clear to all present in the meeting that the Showrunner had not shared my reports with any of the producers.”
But as startling and outrageous as it may seem, nothing was done against the guest star Williamson accused of sexually inappropriate behavior. She said, “After my initial report of sexual harassment, I was assured that the actor would be fired. I was also asked to film with him the very next day as a courtesy to the script, even though we had not begun filming the episode yet. This actor reappeared on our call sheet at the end of the season, I was even written in scenes with him. I asked the showrunner about this and he admitted to me that the actor had not been fired nor had he gotten HR involved.”
Since the investigation she was promised hadn’t even begun before season 2 started shooting, Williamson declined the offer to return and walked. In her posts, she concluded, “Now is the best time in the world to be a woman and I have a platform so it’s time to use my Voice. Strength comes from within. It comes from Above. ‘Greater is He that is within Me than he that is in the world.'”
