14 DAY TRIAL // The backlash has begun: less than 24 hours after an audio recording of actor Stephen Collins admitting to molesting 3 minor girls emerged online, he’s already being dropped from projects to the left and right. The comedy “Ted 2” is one of them, Entertainment Weekly reports.
Universal Pictures has confirmed that Collins is no longer involved in the production but would not say whether the reason behind it is the very serious allegations brought against him.
However, given the timing of the firing and the fact that, just this Sunday, Collins was saying how thrilled he was to be part of the comedy, this is too much of a coincidence to be just that.
Collins is the kind of asset no one wants to work with right now
The Seth MacFarlane comedy isn’t the only project that Collins has been dropped from in light of the shocking revelation made about his secret life. He was also co-director of The Committee for Stress-Free Schools (a part of The David Lynch Foundation) and a SAG member. He’s no longer acting in these capacities.
Meanwhile, reruns for “7th Heaven,” the show on which he played a doting dad and always-there-when-you-need-him-type of reverend, have been canceled.
In other words, all major industry players are starting to disassociate themselves from Collins. If you thought that Tiger Woods’ career had a lot to suffer when he was exposed as a serial cheater and sponsors were dropping him by the handful, imagine what will happen to Collins, a man his own estranged wife describes as a “pedophile who refuses to seek help.”
Moreover, all this will happen before the NYPD investigation is concluded and he’s charged with a crime, assuming that there’s enough evidence for that.
The NYPD sat on the incriminating tape for 2 years
Speaking of the investigation, this is actually the second one the NYPD will be conducting in the case. According to claims made by Faye Grant, Collins’ estranged wife, in a court document filed as part of the divorce proceedings, she made the recording during a therapy session that was meant to help her come to terms with what she’d just found out about her husband of 27 years.
Grant claims that she turned the recording in to the police right after it was made, which means that happened in 2012, which, again, means that the police sat on it for 2 whole years and did nothing. Meanwhile, Collins was out there, free to molest other girls if he wanted to. Again, we’re working under the assumption that his own confession is legit.
In the same document, Grant expresses her fear that there might be more victims than just the 3 Collins owned up, and that he might be using his celebrity status to make more. Knowing that he’s an actor and got to work with children only terrified her more.
Radio silence from Collins, for now
Collins has not addressed the contents of the leaked audio, though he did instruct his attorney to issue a statement throwing his soon-to-be-ex-wife under the bus. The attorney claims that Grant sold the tape to the media after she tried (and failed) to extort money from him: millions over what she was entitled to get from the divorce.
Grant has denied having played any part in the leak, saying that she did what she was supposed to when she turned the recording in to the police. Moreover, she says she insisted that Collins get specialized help, which he constantly refused to do.
Below is a segment of the incriminating tape. *Please be advised that discretion is recommended because its content is disturbing.
I'd tell you but @SethMacFarlane would have to kill me. RT @Rene_Auer: @StephenCollins What is your role in TED 2 ?
— Stephen Collins (@StephenCollins) October 4, 2014