Actress Afton Williamson announced on Sunday she is not returning to The Rookie next season, saying she was sexually harassed, assaulted, and bullied on the set.
Williamson played LAPD officer Talia Bishop opposite star and executive producer Nathan Fillion. In an Instagram post, Williamson said the incidents took place while shooting episodes throughout the show's first season. Williamson alleged she was bullied by the executive producers and experienced "racial discrimination/racially charged inappropriate comments from the hair department." She also accused a "recurring guest star" of sexually harassing her and said the "racist commentary and bullying from the hair department head escalated into sexual assault at our wrap party."
Williamson said she told showrunner Alexi Hawley about the sexual harassment, but "it remained undocumented and was not reported to HR as promised." She decided to leave the show for good after learning that a promised investigation had never been launched, she said, adding, "Now is the best time in the world to be a woman and I have a platform, so it's time to use my voice." Representatives for Fillion and ABC did not respond to USA Today's request for comment.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Should Labour break manifesto pledge and raise taxes?Today's Big Question There are ‘powerful’ fiscal arguments for an income tax rise but it could mean ‘game over’ for the government
-
Nigerian Modernism: an ‘entrancing, enlightening exhibition’The Week Recommends Tate Modern’s ‘revelatory’ show includes 250 works examining Nigerian art pre- and post independence
-
To the point: the gender divide over exclamation marksTalking Point 'Men harbouring urges to be more exclamative' can finally take a breath – this is what using the punctuation really conveys
-
Senate votes to kill Trump’s Brazil tariffSpeed Read Five Senate Republicans joined the Democrats in rebuking Trump’s import tax
-
Border Patrol gets scrutiny in court, gains power in ICESpeed Read Half of the new ICE directors are reportedly from DHS’s more aggressive Customs and Border Protection branch
-
Shutdown stalemate nears key pain pointsSpeed Read A federal employee union called for the Democrats to to stand down four weeks into the government standoff
-
Trump vows new tariffs on Canada over Reagan adspeed read The ad that offended the president has Ronald Reagan explaining why import taxes hurt the economy
-
NY attorney general asks public for ICE raid footageSpeed Read Rep. Dan Goldman claims ICE wrongly detained four US citizens in the Canal Street raid and held them for a whole day without charges
-
Trump’s huge ballroom to replace razed East WingSpeed Read The White House’s east wing is being torn down amid ballroom construction
-
Trump expands boat strikes to Pacific, killing 5 moreSpeed Read The US military destroyed two more alleged drug smuggling boats in international waters
-
Trump demands millions from his administrationSpeed Read The president has requested $230 million in compensation from the Justice Department for previous federal investigations
