A month after Thomas Gibson was dismissed from “Criminal Minds” because he kicked a writer in the leg, the actor detailed the incident, stating that his “foot came up and tapped him on the leg.”
“We were shooting a scene late one night when I went to Virgil [Williams] and told him there was a line that I thought contradicted an earlier line,” Gibson told People. “He said, ‘Sorry, it’s necessary, and I absolutely have to have it.’ ”
According to Gibson, he returned to set and shared the response with some of his fellow cast members when the writer came into the room.
“He came into that room and started coming towards me. As he brushed past me, my foot came up and tapped him on the leg,” Gibson said. “If I hadn’t moved, he would have run into me. We had some choice words, for which I apologized the next day, and that was it. It was over. We shot the scene, I went home — and I never got to go back.”
“Thomas Gibson has been dismissed from ‘Criminal Minds,'” CBS Television Studios and production company ABC Studios jointly told TheWrap after the incident. “Creative details for how the character’s exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date.”
After the incident, Gibson initially said he kicked the staffer in retaliation after he became “aggressive.”
“There were creative differences on the set and a disagreement,” the actor told TheWrap in a statement back in August. “I regret that it occurred. We all want to work together as a team to make the best show possible. We always have and always will.”
Now, the 54-year-old actor added, “I feel like it took years to make a good reputation and a minute to damage it.”
Gibson will appear in the first two episodes of Season 12, which will debut Sept. 28 on CBS.
'Criminal Minds' Star Thomas Gibson and 9 More TV Stars Fired Amid Controversy (Photos)
"Criminal Minds" star Thomas Gibson, who got the boot from the CBS show following reports that he kicked a writer on set, isn't the only small-screen star to say "sayonara" on the heels of controversy.
John Amos claimed that he was fired from ground-breaking 1970s comedy "Good Times" after clashing with producers over the direction of the show. Amos' character, family patriarch James Evans, was subsequently killed off. Nothing funny about that. Damn, damn, damn.
Mackenzie Phillips was fired not once, but twice, from the sitcom "One Day at a Time" (1975-74) as the actress struggled with substance abuse.
Janet Hubert was replaced in her role as Vivian Banks on "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" in 1993, amid reports of serious tension with series star Will Smith.
Lisa Bonet, who played second daughter Denise Huxtable on "The Cosby Show," returned to the series in 1989 after starring in the spinoff "A Different World," but was axed due to "creative differences."
Nicollette Sheridanclaimed in a lawsuit that her "Desperate Housewives" character, Edie Britt, was killed off in 2009 after she accused series boss Marc Cherry of assaulting her. The legal saga over the firing has dragged on nearly as long as her tenure on the series.
Charlie Sheen got kicked to the curb from his "Two and a Half Men" gig in 2011 following a string of bizarre behavior, including insults aimed at series boss Chuck Lorre. As revenge, Lorre killed off a Sheen stand-in with a piano during the comedy's series finale.
Isaiah Washington was shown the door on the ABC drama "Grey's Anatomy" in 2007 after allegedly hurling a homophobic slur in castmate T.R. Knight's direction.
Another Shondaland alum, Columbus Short, said bye-bye to his gig on ABC's "Scandal" in 2014 amid claims that he committed domestic violence, though he later attributed his sacking to cocaine abuse.
TBS canned CeeLo Green's reality series "The Good Life" days after Green pleaded no contest to a felony charge of giving a woman the drug ecstasy.
After more than a decade as Aaron Hotchner on "Criminal Minds," Thomas Gibson got the boot from the CBS show in 2016 following reports that he kicked a writer on the series while directing an episode.
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Gibson is the latest television actor to get the heave-ho after misbehaving, but he’s certainly not the first
"Criminal Minds" star Thomas Gibson, who got the boot from the CBS show following reports that he kicked a writer on set, isn't the only small-screen star to say "sayonara" on the heels of controversy.
