'Lethal Weapon' Star Clayne Crawford Speaks out After Months of Silence

It has been public knowledge for a few months now that Clayne Crawford was let go from the cast of Lethal Weapon. The only reason we have been given thus far is that Crawford had some behaviour issues that jeopardized the show. He has remained silent for months, but on August 29, 2018, the actor went to a podcast called Drinkin Bros to tell his side. What the media has not been telling us is shocking.

Waynes and Crawford have undeniable on-screen chemistry. Many fans have been reported saying they had no idea that these two co-stars had so many conflicts with each other in real life. The critics have stated that the chemistry between the two on screen was reason enough to tune in. So what happens offset that lead to Crawford being fired?

For months we were told it was bad behaviour and there have even been tapes "leaked" to prove it. The first instants of Crawfords “bad behaviour” was over what he deemed to be an unsafe work environment. After this, Crawford apologized for his behaviour, met with human resources, apologized for his role in the conflict and completed studio-appointed therapy, while also sharing a "sizable portion" of his paycheck with one of the parties involved at the request Warners Bros.

The second incident happened when Wayne took to twitter saying that he had been struck in the head by a piece of shrapnel on the set of the episode that Crawford had directed. Tagging his tweets with things like “#directedby@claynecrawford" and “#noapology," Wayne's was less than quiet about his outrage and dislike for his former co-star. Wayne’s went on to share a picture of a sticker calling Crawford an “Emotional Terrorist.” Soon after, Wayne deleted his Twitter account altogether, but not before Crawford could fire back by tweeting:

I absolutely love, respect and care for my crew and cast, and would never intentionally jeopardize so many jobs, I am incredibly sorry if my passion for doing good work has ever made anyone feel less than comfortable on our set, or feel less than celebrated for their efforts. Furthermore, I apologize to all the crew and cast for any negative attention Lethal Weapon is receiving because of these incidents.

Crawford has since come forth with his side of the story. He has yet to receive a call from Warner Bros studios confirming that he has indeed been fired. Crawford had to find out from social media what his fate was. In his podcast interview, he is heard saying he didn't believe the rumours at first because his character was a huge part of the series. Crawford then goes on to discuss the many issues that were between him and Wayne on set. Crawford stated that “Wayne didn't want to be there,” and that he was not easy to work with. That he always would hold up productions and refuse to do certain scenes. Wayne also wouldn't do table reads with the other members of the crew, so they could never tell if a scene would work for him or not.

One such instance happened during the shooting of a church scene. Wayne had shown up on a set of a church and stated he wouldn't be doing this cut because of religious beliefs and background, something that could have been avoided if he would meet with staff for table readings to work out any issues in the script. Crawford was forced to work the scenes himself with the stunt double filling in, making it both frustrating and extremely difficult. Crawford had talked about this in his podcast interview, how he was excited to work under someone like Damon Wayne who had had so much television success and he was hoping to “ learn the ropes.”

This behaviour from both management and Damon Wayne became extremely distressing for Crawford. He had mentioned how he was, in fact, the face of the show, and if this show sucked it was his career on the line more than anyone else. This leads him to try to do what he called “ quality control” on set. Hoping to bring the best content possible to the viewers.

When Fox announced Crawford being fired, and confirming the third season, Crawford posted on Instagram saying, “To my cast and crew - CONGRATULATIONS on season 3! To the Fans - Thank you for the overwhelming support and love, Riggs was a dream role and the experience will live with me forever. My heart is full. Good Luck nxt season!!"

If you listen to the whole podcast on Drinkin Bros you can hear the frustration that is still with Crawford as he talks about all the injustice he had to deal with on the show. He has said the last two years were hell and talks in-depth about an episode he was chosen to direct. He said in the podcast how he had no support or help from management and that he thought the director would be by his side to help him out, instead he was basically tossed in and it was a sink or swim situation, and he felt that Wayne’s was trying to sabotage his episode because he wouldn't cooperate at all and walked out of the shooting saying that his stunt double was going to do all his shots because he wasn't running, holding a gun, or doing anything of the sort. Leaving this writer to wonder how you can shoot an action show featuring cops, without holding a gun or doing any action shots. Crawford called management to relay his frustrations and management simply replied with, “You wanted to direct so direct.” It should also be noted that Crawford did not ask to direct an episode, that he was offered this as a peace offer as such, and a way to get him to come back to season two as he didn't want to return after all the arguments in season one.

Crawford has remained extremely mature and professional in the face of all this negative attention. He simply decided that it was time to get his story out to the fans because we all deserve to know both sides.