Earlier this month The Chi star Jason Mitchell was fired from the show and dropped by his agents, lawyers and managers after being accused of sexual harassment by multiple women on set [click here if you missed that].
Now Chi creator Lena Waithe is being accused of standing by and doing nothing....
From The Hollywood Reporter
While Mitchell’s termination from Desperados was the impetus for all that followed, sources claim his conduct had been a problem for at least two actresses on The Chi. More than one person on the show — including Tiffany Boone, who played Mitchell’s character’s girlfriend, Jerrika, and second-season showrunner Ayanna Floyd — filed a complaint. Despite HR training, these sources say, the alleged conduct persisted and Boone asked to be released from the series. But Mitchell was to remain for a planned season three, sources say, despite Waithe’s activism on the subject of on-set safety. “I’ve been very involved in Time’s Up and that movement, and for season two, we’re making sure that women feel safe,” Waithe told The Hollywood Reporter in June 2018. “[I]f you want to play that game and be disrespectful or misbehave on set with an actress or anyone, I’ll happily call Showtime and say, ‘This person has to go,’ and you will get shot up and it’ll be a wonderful finale.”
So why didn’t Mitchell’s character go down in a volley of onscreen bullets? While Waithe has not been the showrunner handling day-to-day duties, she has credits as creator, producer and sometime writer. A source close to Waithe says she was made aware of Mitchell’s alleged harassment only after the first season wrapped. The Chi’s season one showrunner, Elwood Reid, declined to comment, but a source close to him says he was unaware of conduct issues. (Boone did not make a complaint until after work had wrapped.) Concern for on-set conduct, the source continues, was among the reasons Waithe pushed for a woman of color (Floyd) as showrunner for the second season. Still, this person initially stated that Waithe did not know the alleged conduct had continued.
In a statement to THR, Floyd directly challenges Waithe. “When I took the helm in season two, it was Lena who informed me of the issues between Jason Mitchell and Tiffany Boone from season one, and that Tiffany was thinking of leaving the show because of it,” says Floyd. “As a result of this information, I discussed Tiffany’s claims with the studio’s HR department and set up HR presentations for the writers, cast and crew. Ultimately, everyone was well aware of Jason’s behavior and his multiple HR cases, including Lena, the creator and an executive producer of the show, who is very involved at the studio and network level.”
Adds Floyd, “As showrunner, I did everything I could to deal with his behavior, by speaking with the studio’s HR department multiple times and instructing one actress to call HR herself, before I became a target of his rage and inappropriateness, and had to report him to HR, as well.”
In her own statement, Waithe focuses only on Boone, saying: “I think Tiffany is a wonderful actress and an extremely brave woman. I wish her nothing but success in the future. I look forward to getting back to work on season three.” Told of Floyd’s statement, the source close to Waithe said the showrunner did inform Waithe of the ongoing conduct but said she would handle it. (Though Mitchell was the best-known actor on the show, plans for another season are in place and writers are figuring out how to handle the disappearance of his character. Floyd is not returning.)
