Things keep getting worse and worse for former 7th Heaven actor Stephen Collins. The man’s been put through the ringer since allegations and audio recording surfaced of the actor admitting he’d exposed himself to young girls. Things might not be good for Collins, but there is definitely not going to be any Scandal in the future.
Back in September, Collins noted that he was going to appear in another episode of Shonda Rhimes’ hit drama, Scandal. He’d formerly appeared in a 2012 episode of the series playing Reed Wallace, a reporter who covered Fitz Grant’s assassination attempt. A tweet last month from Collins indicated he had already shot another episode to air during Season 4.
A day after the allegations came to light, ABC told EW that Scandal would not “not be airing any footage with Stephen Collins.” Presumably, his role on the show was a small one, and Scandal will be able to replace him or cut him out without having to change the storyline too much. I would guess fans won't even notice his absence when the episode eventually airs.
Earlier this week, news broke that Collins had allegedly admitted to his wife that he had exposed himself to several underage girls between the ages of 10 and 13. His lawyer Mark Kaplan says Collins’ wife then brought a secret tape recorder into a therapy session in order to get confirmation of the crimes, holding it as leverage during their divorce proceedings. No matter what the story is, there are molestation questions at the heart of it, and the networks and studios are looking to stay as far away from the story as possible.
Beyond getting cut from Scandal, Collins has resigned from his leadership position in the Screen Actors Guild. Earlier this week, the actor was also fired from the set of Ted 2, where he had a small part. Collins isn't exactly a spry chicken. Even if the divorce case pans out quietly and possible criminal cases get dropped, there's a huge likelihood that his career as an actor is over. At the very least, we definitely won’t be seeing Mr. Collins on the big or small screens anytime soon; regardless, we’ll let you know how this story continues to pan out.
