Fred Savage was fired from the restart of The Wonder Years after investigating numerous allegations of misconduct as executive producer and director.
“We were recently briefed on allegations of misconduct by Fred Savage and, as is the policy, launched an investigation,” a spokesman for Disney’s 20th television said in a statement on Friday’s deadline.
“After his graduation, it was decided to terminate his work as an executive producer and director of The Wonder Years.”
Deadline reported that Savage, who appeared in the original 80’s series, behaved inappropriately and had verbal outbursts during the production.
Savage played Kevin Arnold in the show from the 60s and 70s for six seasons from 1988-1993. He was the youngest actor ever nominated for an Emmy when he started the show at the age of 12. The reboot, in which Savage directed eight episodes, depicts a family of black middle class in the 1960s.
This is not the first time Savage has been accused of misconduct. His co-star of The Wonder Years, Alley Mills, who played his mother Norma, said in 2018 that the original show was canceled after a former costume designer filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Savage, then 16, and his colleague from the actor Jason Hervey, then 20. The case was settled out of court.
From left to right: Josh Saviano, Alley Mills, Dan Lauria, Olivia d’Abo, Fred Savage and Jason Hervey from The Wonderful Years.
ABC Photo Archive
However, Mills continued to dismiss the lawsuit as “ridiculous,” saying Savage was “the least offensive, the most beautiful, the sweetest human being to ever walk the face of the earth.”
Monique Long, the woman who then accused 16-year-old Savage, told Deadline that he and Hervey were “verbally and physically harassing her.”
Responding to Mills, who denied her allegations, she told Deadline: “My only response to Ms Mills’ slander is that it proves exactly why women in the industry are forced to remain silent about sexual harassment.
In 2015, a woman on the cast of Savage The Grinder also accused him of assaulting and harassing her on set. However, Savage was released after an investigation and called the allegations “completely baseless and completely untrue.”
Savage is married to real estate agent Jennifer Lynn Stone and has three children. He has not yet responded to his dismissal or accusations.
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