“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 Sheridan claimed 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.
