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Fred Willard Comments on His Arrest, Gets Fired From PBS Show

Jul 20, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Actor Fred Willard has been fired from his job with a new PBS show in the wake of his arrest in a Hollywood adult movie theater, reports Elizabeth Jensen in The New York Times.

As previously reported, Willard was arrested Wednesday night on a lewd conduct charge at the Tiki Theater after officers allegedly found him with his genitals exposed.

Willard commented on the arrest Thursday as he visited his lawyer’s office with his wife. TMZ.com reports that the actor said the incident was a "big misunderstanding" and that "it did not happen." Willard said he and the police had a "difference of opinion,” about what happened and added, “It’s all being straightened out.”

Willard will no longer narrate the new PBS show "Market Warriors," according to the Times story. PBS on Monday debuted the first of 20 episodes of the show, which is a spinoff of "Antiques Roadshow" and places professional antique hunters in a competitive bargain-hunting situation.

“Given the unfortunate news reported today, effective immediately, Fred Willard no longer will be involved with the ‘Market Warriors’ series," said Jeanne Hopkins, a spokeswoman for WGBH, the Boston public broadcaster that produces the program.

Instead, Mark Walberg, the host of "Antiques Roadshow," will re-voice the episodes that Willard has taped, according to the Times story.

3 Comments

  1. Apparently Guilty is in the eyes of the beholder. Willard says he is innocent, but PBS says he is guilty; even though they were not there.

  2. As “Digital Guy” you of all people should realize that perception is reality. If it didn’t really happen, like a lot of things digital, many will swear it did.

  3. Really? And you think it is worth the integrity of the network to wait and see what happens before making a decision? I grew up in LA and I haven’t seen LAPD rousting 72 year old people for no reason. I’m willing to go out on a limb here and say that Fred probably used some bad judgement to get himself in that situation. If I am the program producer, I’ll err on the side of protecting the program and the network. No insult intended to Fred Willard and I hope all of this is fairly resolved.

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