Lucas Till is opening up about the abuse he endured on the set of MacGyver from fired showrunner Peter M. Lenkov.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, the 29-year-old actor, who plays the title character, admitted that during the first season of the CBS show, he was suicidal with his thoughts.
“I’ve never worked this hard in my life, and I am fine with hard work,” he shared, citing all the instances of verbal abuse, bullying, and body-shaming he was subject to. “But the way Peter treats people is just unacceptable.”
Lucas added, “I was suicidal that first year on the show, because of the way he made me feel. But the way he’s treated the people around me — that’s just my breaking point.”
Peter‘s firing was announced earlier this month, when CBS ended their relationship with him.
“Over the past year, we have assigned human resource production partners to every show, expanded staff training and increased reporting options,” the network shared in their statement. “We will continue to evolve our practices with continued focus on building trust with all who work on our sets. Every complaint is taken seriously, every claim is investigated, and when evidence is clear that policies were violated and values not upheld, we take decisive action.”
Lucas focused in on the body shaming that was directed at him from Peter, which he sent in a note to the Human Resources department.
The note wasn’t taken seriously until Lucas wrote a five page letter to Ellen Goldsmith, the head of human resources at CBS, which also pointed out Peter’s behavior to co-star Meredith Eaton.
“There was always something about my appearance that wouldn’t please him, like when I was in a hospital gown…[Lenkov] said my legs were ‘f***ing hideous’ and we can never show them again. Honestly, I found some humor in that comment as well, but you can imagine if that was a more sensitive spot that he had hit, and often did,” he shared.
He added, “Just like the time he screamed at [a director] ’Oh, my f***ing God! Tuck his shirt in, he looks like a little f***ing boy’… I’ve struggled with maintaining ‘man weight’ on the show because of the stress, no time to work out, and an unpredictable schedule for proper nourishment.”
Peter has denied Lucas‘ claims about his behavior.
Over the weekend, staffers at this popular show also spoke out about a toxic environment. See what happened here…
