Vanity Fair has shared an excerpt from Maureen Ryan's new book, Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood, and ABC's hit series Lost is put under the spotlight in a way that's likely to leave fans of the show reeling.
We'd strongly recommend reading the entire article to learn more about the accusations levelled at those who worked on the series. Neither co-creator Damon Lindelof nor executive producer Carlton Cuse comes out looking particularly good thanks to multiple claims of racism, offensive comments, and inappropriate behaviour.
Much is said about Harold Perrineau's memorable role as Michael in the series. He was part of the cast from the start after Lost launched in 2004 and reveals that he was fired after questioning his reduced role in the series and asking that his character not be portrayed in such a stereotypical fashion (specifically in regards to what became of his character's son).
"I was like, 'Wait a minute, what’s happening?'" the actor says of his shock firing. "[Cuse] said, ‘Well, you know, you said to us, if we don’t have anything good for you, you want to go.’ I was just asking for equal depth." The showrunner reportedly responded with, "'Well, you said you don’t have enough work here, so we’re letting you go.'"
Lindelof, meanwhile, is quoted by multiple sources as saying that "[Perrineau] called me racist, so I fired his ass."
This excerpt features a long list of shocking claims, including racist remarks made about an Asian child one member of staff planned to adopt, someone being told to remove Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje's photo because it was near a wallet the Black actor might steal, and an Asian American writer being nicknamed "Korean."
Both Lindelof and Cuse issued lengthy statements about these allegations, with the former saying, "My level of fundamental inexperience as a manager and a boss, my role as someone who was supposed to model a climate of creative danger and risk-taking but provide safety and comfort inside of the creative process - I failed in that endeavor."
"What can I say? Other than it breaks my heart that that was Harold’s experience," he added, denying he fired Perrineau for the reasons detailed above. "And I’ll just cede that the events that you’re describing happened 17 years ago, and I don’t know why anybody would make that up about me."
He'd conclude by saying, "It’s not for me to say what kind of person I am. But I will say this - I would trade every person who told you that I was talented - I would rather they said I was untalented but decent, rather than a talented monster."
It sounds like Lost promoted a pretty juvenile working environment with much of what happened a sad example of how different the world was when the show was being made. That doesn't excuse much of what's detailed in this book, however, and it sounds like a lot of cast and crew were mistreated during its 121-episode run.
Regardless, it's fair to say Lost's legacy has definitely been tarnished.