Something that is brought up quite a bit in Hollywood stories that are part of the #MeToo movement is the lack of nuance. With how society treats these stories today, most of the time, studios are quick to act against an accused person and that person is blacklisted. However, as Lena Waithe explains in regards to the recent sexual harassment situation on her TV series “The Chi,” many of these situations require nuanced thinking before reaction.
Waithe spoke to Charlamagne Tha God on his Breakfast Club radio show recently to discuss the recent situation that was made public with actor Jason Mitchell being fired from a Netflix film, and then fired from the Showtime series, “The Chi,” for separate and unrelated misconduct issues. And in that discussion, which runs for over 40 minutes, the creator of “The Chi” does her best to reveal the truth behind the situation and how some people have skewed the reality.
For those that haven’t followed along with the news, Jason Mitchell was recently fired from “The Chi,” after it was revealed that a co-star Tiffany Boone had filed sexual harassment claims with HR, as she allegedly felt unsafe on the set when she was in a scene with her co-star. However, there was a wrinkle added recently when the showrunner for Season 2 of “The Chi,” Ayanna Floyd said that before she was hired by Waithe, the creator told her that Mitchell was a problem, but no actions were taken against the actor in light of the accusations.
In the new interview, Waithe confirms that she was aware of issues with Mitchell before Season 2 was filmed, but she claims that the issues were “resolved” with the actor and his co-star Boone. And that both agreed to return to the series. Waithe said that she went on to hire a new production director and a new showrunner (Floyd), both Black females replacing white males. However, as she details below, things didn’t change.
“I’m hearing that the set is completely different,” explained Waithe. “And then I get a call from Ayanna saying that things are persisting, not a lot has changed in that area, but you can’t reach out, you’ve gotta sit tight, HR has to handle it.”
She continued, “And my biggest regret is that I should have just said, ‘Forget that,’ and not trusted anybody to do my job and just reached out to Tiffany on my own, like, ‘Yo, what’s going on? What can I do? What can Lena do?’ And instead, I trusted someone else to do my job.”
Though the series creator says she’s not trying to throw any shade on anyone, it does seem as if Waithe is throwing Ayanna Floyd under the bus a bit, saying that the showrunner should have handled things while Waithe wasn’t on set (she’s very busy, as she states). But since she let someone else do her “job,” it didn’t get done and Mitchell was allowed to continue his antics. That being said, Waithe does admit that the situation was handled poorly.
“What I wanted to do was trust my showrunner at the time. And ultimately, the situation wasn’t handled appropriately,” said Waithe.
The interview is below, and you can listen to it in its entirety. The creator says that the roles that Mitchell and Boone occupied in the series will be written out of the show for Season 3, as Mitchell was dismissed and his female co-star asked to leave the series.
The second season of “The Chi” is still airing on Showtime now.