Harold Perrineau Recalls Being Fired From ‘Lost’ After Requesting ‘Equal Depth’

Actor Harold Perrineau is lastly shedding mild on his removing from ABC’s “Misplaced” within the early 2000s after asking for “equal depth” for his character.

Perrineau was one of many extra identified actors when “Misplaced” premiered in 2004. He was recent off the heels of breakout roles in “Oz” and “Romeo + Juliet” when he was solid to play the development employee and artist Michael, a misplaced survivor of Oceanic Flight 815 alongside together with his son Walt (Malcolm David Kelley).

However what began as a “actually equitable” function for Perrineau on the time, quickly was a recurring visitor spot after “The Finest Man” star spoke to showrunners in regards to the differential remedy he was receiving as in comparison with his white counterparts.

An excerpt from writer and tv critic Maureen Ryan’s new guide, “Burn It Down: Energy, Complicity, and a Name for Change in Hollywood” was printed in Self-importance Truthful and divulges Perrineau’s recollection of being written off the sequence after expressing his considerations to showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse.

“It grew to become fairly clear that I used to be the Black man. Daniel (Dae Kim) was the Asian man. And then you definitely had Jack and Kate and Sawyer,” Perrineau stated.

Actors Matthew Fox, Josh Holloway, and Evangeline Lilly performed the roles of the white characters that seemingly took heart stage on the six-season present, Folks experiences. Perrineau even famous the solid photoshoots the place the three white characters have been seated in entrance of the folks of shade within the solid.

“‘I don’t need to be the primary, I don’t need to have essentially the most episodes — however I’d prefer to be within the combine,” he stated on the time. “However it looks like that is now a narrative about Jack and Kate and Sawyer.”

Nonetheless, in accordance with Perrineau, the producer claimed that “Misplaced” followers discovered Jack, Kate and Sawyer to be “relatable.” Then comes the second his son Walt was kidnapped and it was solely briefly talked about in a single scene. The actor says he defined to showrunners why the script was problematic to the Black group.

“‘I don’t assume I can do this,’” he thought on the time.

“I can’t be one other one that doesn’t care about lacking Black boys, even within the context of fiction, proper? That is simply furthering the narrative that no person cares about Black boys, even Black fathers.”

That’s when he seen his character getting much less and fewer display screen time because the season went on. Perrineau who was lauded within the early days of selling the present advised producers how prepared he was to “work” and didn’t wish to simply be “‘the Black man’ in your present.”

However simply forward of the season two finale, Perrineau was knowledgeable that he wouldn’t be returning for season 3.

“I used to be f—ed up about it,” Perrineau shared. “I used to be like, ‘Oh, I simply bought fired, I believe.’”

Perrienau claims that when he confronted Cuse about his removing from the present, the showrunner allegedly claimed the actor advised them that “‘if we don’t have something good for you, you wish to go.’”

“I used to be simply asking for equal depth,” Perrineau advised Cuse. “It was all very a lot, ‘How dare you?’”

“Misplaced” author and producer Monica Owusu-Breen joined the present in season 3 and alleged to have as soon as heard Lindelof publicly declare that Perrineau “referred to as me racist, so I fired his ass.”

Lindelof has since claimed to have by no means made the remark however did specific his “remorse” for slowly eradicating Perrineau from the present.

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