2020 in Review: TV's Most Egregious Controversies, From AGT Flare-Up to Toobin's Zoom

'BLACK LIVES MATTER' ROCKS HOLLYWOOD

Following George Floyd’s police-caused death in May, Black Lives Matter protests exploded across the United States and around the world — and the TV industry was forced to reckon with its lack of Black representation, surplus of pro-cop programming and other areas that desperately needed improvement. The Bold Type‘s Aisha Dee and Riverdale‘s Vanessa Morgan were among the actresses to criticize their shows’ on- and off-screen representations of Black people, with Morgan revealing she’s paid the least of any Riverdale series regular. (EP Roberto Aguirre-Sacasa later apologized to Morgan, promising to “do better to honor her and the character she plays. As well as all of our actors and characters of color.”)

The spotlight was also notably turned on Lea Michele, after Glee alum Samantha Ware alleged that Michele “made my first television gig a living hell” via “traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood.” Michele addressed Ware’s comments two days later, apologizing for “my behavior and for any pain which I have caused,” though Ware’s public call-out prompted several of Michele’s stage and screen co-stars to recount similar experiences they’d had with her.

Elsewhere during the summer, many networks and TV shows grappled with their depictions of Black characters and/or police departments, prompting many a change to casts and schedules: Cops and Live P.D. were cancelled at Paramount Network and A&E, respectively, while animated shows like Big Mouth, Family Guy, The Simpsons and Central Park committed to recasting their characters of color with actors of color.

TERRIBLE TWEETS: SCRIPTED EDITION

Several stars of scripted series learned that the Internet is very much forever. Ryan Guzman of Fox’s 9-1-1 at first defended his wife’s use of a racial slur in tweets from 2011, arguing, “I have plenty of friends and we make fun of each other’s races all the time.” But after suffering backlash, including from multiple co-stars, he took “full responsibility for my defensiveness and ignorance.” The Flash‘s Hartley Sawyer, meanwhile, was summarily fired for racist, homophobic and misogynistic tweets, from almost nine years prior, that left showrunner Eric Wallace “mad as hell” and made series lead Grant Gustin “saddened and angry.” (In an apology, Ralph Dibny’s portrayer said, “I want to be very clear: This is not reflective of what I think or who I am now.”) Squidbillies‘ Stuart Baker, who voiced dad Early Cuyler on the animated comedy, was far less contrite when he was ousted for “extremely offensive and derogatory social media posts” that, among other things, wrote off his “Liberal fans” as “UN-AMERICANS.” His response? “I just hope you a–holes are happy.”

TERRIBLE TWEETS (AND MORE): UNSCRIPTED EDITION

The Challenge‘s Dee Nguyen made light of the Black Lives Matter movement and the police-involved death of George Floyd by posting “people die every f—king day” on Instagram. Siesta Key‘s Alex Kompothecras dropped the N-word on Instagram, too. (Both were fired from their shows.) A Dance Moms parent called out Abby Lee Miller for seeming to support BLM when she’d reportedly mocked that parent for “growing up in the hood” and made other racially charged comments. (Lifetime then cancelled Miller’s upcoming series.) Vanderpump Rules‘ Max Boyens and Brett Caprioni were fired after making racist tweets, while the Bravo series let Stassi Schroeder and Kristen Doute go after a Black co-star, Faith Stowers, said they called the cops on her in 2018 and tried to pin crimes on her she hadn’t committed. And Blake Neff, the top writer for Tucker Carlson’s Fox News Channel show, resigned following the discovery of his racist and sexist posts, all written under a pseudonym on a message board notorious for vulgar and offensive content.

AMERICA'S GOT DIVISION

Rather than standing with Gabrielle Union in her ongoing accusation that America’s Got Talent fostered a toxic, racist work environment, host Terry Crews went on national television to refute her claims. Crews eventually tweeted an apology to Union, promising that he would continue to “push for reconciliation between the world … and the culture I grew up in.” An independent investigation into the matter determined that no one associated with AGT made derogatory remarks about Union’s appearance, nor did her race or gender affect decisions made by producers, but in September, NBC reached an “amicable resolution” with Union, including “significant” compensation.

WITCHES AT WAR

Original Charmed stars Holly Marie Combs and Rose McGowan clearly didn’t realize what they were starting while taking fan questions during an Instagram Live session in October. After lightly badmouthing the existence of The CW’s reboot, new Charmed star Sarah Jeffery fired back, calling the women’s behavior “sad and quite frankly pathetic.” Jeffery was especially opposed to them putting down actresses of color, an accusation that Combs later dismissed as “bulls–t.”

McGowan also hard harsh words for Jeffery, whom she claimed she’d never heard of. “Reboots will always be the shadow, the originals will always be the sun,” McGowan wrote on Instagram. Combs eventually called for peace between fans of the original and the reboot, tweeting, “Truth be told, and it will be told, is that our issues were and are at the corporate level. And we have the receipts.”

TV STARS SAY THE DUMBEST THINGS (ABOUT COVID-19) 

To be fair, we’ve all been subject to rapidly changing information during the global coronavirus pandemic… but some familiar faces went out of their way to display their ignorance. Vanessa Hudgens (High School Musical) was skeptical: “Even if everybody gets it, like, yeah, people are going to die, which is terrible… but inevitable?” Evangeline Lilly (Lost) refused to quarantine or socially distance herself. Rachel Griffiths (Six Feet Under) went out and got a manicure, despite the nationwide lockdowns. All eventually apologized… which proves that there’s still no vaccine for bad press.

A TON OF TOXIC WORKPLACES 

“Toxic” was right up there with “pandemic” and “quarantine” for 2020’s word of the year, as an alarming number of TV shows and networks revealed highly dysfunctional environments behind the scenes. Ellen DeGeneres publicly apologized and fired three producers after allegations of a toxic workplace at her daytime talk show made headlines. CBS producer Peter Lenkov (Hawaii Five-0, MacGyver, Magnum P.I.) and NBC entertainment chief Paul Telegdy were both fired for toxic and abusive behavior. Rose McGowan accused Alyssa Milano of making the Charmed set “toxic.” American Housewife cast member Carly Hughes quit the show due to its “toxic environment.” Can we get the EPA to declare Hollywood a disaster area and start cleaning this up?

TRUMP LEAVES BEFORE 60 MINUTES IS UP 

Outgoing President Donald Trump’s famously combative relationship with the news media didn’t improve any when he walked out midway through an October interview with 60 Minutes‘ Lesley Stahl, refusing to return for a planned joint interview with Vice President Mike Pence. Trump (of course) took to Twitter to blast the interview as “FAKE and BIASED” and even posted the full interview on Facebook days before it was set to air in an attempt to undercut the venerable CBS news program. It didn’t work, though: The 60 Minutes episode still drew more than 17 million viewers, its highest number in two years, and Trump lost the presidential election to Joe Biden a month later.

ALL RISE'S MASS EXODUS

Ahead of Season 2, five of the CBS legal drama’s original writers — including the three highest-ranking writers of color — exited the show after clashing with showrunner Greg Spottiswood (who is white) over the series’ depiction of race and gender, The New York Times reported in August. The exposé also revealed that former co-showrunner Sunil Nayar resigned after his efforts to have All Rise accurately reflect the experiences of Black people and other people of color fell on deaf ears. After a workplace review, “the findings did not reveal conduct that would warrant removing series creator, Greg Spottiswood, from the executive producer role,” Warner Bros., the studio behind the series, said in a statement. “We identified areas for improvement, and implemented procedures and protocols in response to the findings, which are resulting in the steps necessary to move forward with the series’ leadership in place.”

A NINJA FALLS

NBC severed ties with Drew Dreschel after the 31-year-old American Ninja Warrior vet was charged with multiple child sex crimes, including the manufacturing of child pornography and enticement of a minor to travel for illicit sexual conduct. “American Ninja Warrior is a family show that has inspired countless people, and we will not let the actions of one contestant tarnish the hard work and amazing stories of so many,” NBC said in a statement, before editing Dreschel out of this fall’s Season 12 competition.

DANNY MASTERSON CHARGED WITH RAPE

In June, the That ’70s Show and Ranch actor was formally charged with raping three women in three separate incidents between 2001 and 2003. If convicted, he faces a maximum life sentence of 45 years to life in prison.

CHRIS D'ELIA ACCUSED OF HARASSING UNDERAGE GIRLS

In June, the Whitney and Undateable alum was dropped by his agent and his manager after several women came forward to say that he preyed on them when they were minors. D’Elia — who had most recently played a comedian who was secretly a pedophile on Netflix’s YOU — denied that he ever “knowingly pursued any underage women at any point” in a statement issued to TMZ.

SNL DITCHES MUSICAL GUEST FOR BREAKING COVID PROTOCOLS

Former Voice contestant Morgan Wallen was slated to make his Studio 8H debut in October, but lost his spot after numerous TikTok videos surfaced showing the country singer unmasked and fraternizing in crowded bars in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Two months later, Wallen was invited back to Saturday Night Live and appeared opposite Jason Bateman in a sketch that made light of his dangerous behavior.

JEFFREY TOOBIN ZOOMS HIMSELF OUTTA A JOB

Legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin took a leave of absence from CNN after his colleagues at his other job, The New Yorker, reportedly caught him masturbating during a work Zoom call. “I made an embarrassingly stupid mistake, believing I was off-camera,” Toobin later said in a statement. “I apologize to my wife, family, friends and co-workers. I believed I was not visible on Zoom. I thought no one on the Zoom call could see me. I thought I had muted the Zoom video.” The New Yorker eventually fired Toobin for the incident.

JERRY HARRIS ARRESTED FOR CHILD PORNOGRAPHY

The Cheer standout was arrested in September on a federal charge of allegedly “enticing an underage boy to produce sexually explicit videos and photos of himself,” according to a statement from federal officials. Harris pleaded not guilty to the charges.

BLACK-ISH'S TRUMP EPISODE FINALLY SEES THE LIGHT OF DAY

In 2018, ABC pulled black-ish‘s “Please, Baby, Please” episode — in which Dre voices his concerns about the state of America a year after Donald Trump was elected president — before it aired. The reason given at the time: unresolvable “creative differences.” In 2020, series creator Kenya Barris asked ABC to reconsider making the episode available to stream. “Recognizing the importance of this moment,” he said in a statement, “they listened and agreed.” The most controversial part of the whole debacle? The criticism of Trump depicted in”Please, Baby, Please” turned out to be hardly controversial at all.

TV'S ABOUT-FACE

Though the entertainment industry may still not be woke, 2020 definitely gave it a wakeup call. In light of the ongoing demand for racial equality and a cessation of the perpetuation of racial stereotypes, one apology (Jimmy Fallon’s) after another (Jimmy Kimmel’s) was made for past use of blackface. One series (30 Rock, Golden Girls) after another (Scrubs, Community) yanked from streaming services episodes featuring blackface. The Office cut its depiction of blackface. Mad Men issued a disclaimer. And when Gone With the Wind was returned to HBO Max, it was with a prologue that called out the Oscar winner as “an enduring work of popular culture that speaks directly to the racial inequalities that persist in media and society today.” So the battle may be far from over, but at least it’s begun.

TRISH REGAN OUT AT FOX BUSINESS NETWORK

In March, Fox Business Network parted ways with the anchor, whose Trish Regan Primetime had been put on hiatus weeks earlier after she delivered a controversial commentary on what she billed the “Coronavirus Impeachment Scam.” In her monologue, among other claims, she asserted that the COVID-19 threat was being used by Trump’s adversaries to take down the sitting president.

GOOD GODS ALMIGHTY

Orlando Jones’ contentious exit from American Gods, which the actor first made public at the end of 2019, spilled over into this year when he published a private communication from former co-star Ricky Whittle in March. In the message, Whittle says Jones used “the racism card” to incite the public’s ire/support around his departure; Jones later countered that Whittle “nvr asked, nvr cared” about what transpired among him, the show’s producer Freemantle and Starz. Whittle did not directly address Jones’ grievances but eventually posted a social media post about how “positivity breeds positivity and will only ever seek to spread light and love.”

NICK CANNON'S ANTI-SEMITIC COMMENTS COST HIM A GIG

From the “… and Just When You Thought This Story Couldn’t Get Any Worse” files: Over the summer, Wild ‘N Out host Nick Cannon was fired by ViacomCBS for promoting, in its words, “hateful speech” and “anti-Semitic conspiracy theories” in an episode of his podcast, Cannon’s Class. In response, he demanded an apology and “full ownership” of the W’NO franchise, and accused the conglomerate of trying to “put the young negro in his place.” Ultimately, he issued a mea culpa to “my Jewish sisters and brothers,” had the debut of his syndicated daytime talk show delayed by a year and was kept on as host of Fox’s The Masked Singer.

DUFF VS. DISNEY

The highly anticipated Lizzie McGuire revival hit a major snag earlier this year when Disney+ reportedly determined that the project was too mature to join its family-friendly programming slate. Duff, believing that the authentic story of a grown-up Lizzie deserved an appropriate platform, rallied to move the revival to Hulu, beginning by publicly shading Disney on Instagram. The show was ultimately scrapped, Duff revealed on social media in December.