Stars Who Were Fired From TV Shows: Roseanne Barr, Chevy Chase and More

After Brynn Whitfield announced she was exiting The Real Housewives of New York City in June, a source claimed the reality star "was definitely fired" after appearing for two seasons.

The insider said the cast members were "not surprised" but found the timing strange, explaining, "No one was expecting her to make this announcement now, and nobody knows why she randomly chose today to break the news."

According to the source, the cast began distancing themselves from Whitfield, who was not asked back to the franchise.

"No one really feels like they want to be around her or open themselves up to that sort of energy or friendship again," said the source.

In 2019, Chadwick Boseman claimed he was let go from the All My Children cast after he expressed disapproval over the portrayal of his character on the ABC soap.

"When I got it, I was like, 'This is not part of my manifesto. This is not part of what I want to do. How can I make it work?' Because with a soap opera, you don't know the full scope of what's gonna happen — you don't know where they're gonna take the character, because they don't always know where the character is going," he told The Wrap. "And because of that, there's possibly room for me to adjust this and change it and make it so it's stereotypical on the page but not on the screen."

Boseman added, "I remember going home and thinking, 'Do I say something to them about this? Do I just do it?' And I couldn't just do it. I had to voice my opinions and put my stamp on it."

In 2011, Charlie Sheen ignited a feud with Chuck Lorre when he went on a profanity-laced tirade against the Two and a Half Men co-creator. He played Charlie Harper in the first eight seasons of the CBS sitcom before his character was killed off.

More than a decade later, he made amends with Lorre and became friends with him again.

"I was nervous, but almost as soon as we started talking, I remembered, we were friends once," Lorre said of Sheen in his interview with Variety. "And that friendship just suddenly seemed to be there again. I don't want to be too mawkish about it, but it was healing. And he was also totally game to make fun of himself. When he came to the table read of that episode, I walked up, and we hugged. It was just great."

Chevy Chase's problematic behavior led to his ousting from Community. His former costar Donald Glover said the Saturday Night Live alum used a racial slur on set and repeatedly made racist jokes between takes.

"I felt a little bit constrained. Everybody had their bits, and I thought they were all good. It just wasn't hard-hitting enough for me," Chase said of the show during an interview on Marc Maron's "WTF" podcast.

Gina Carano was dropped from The Mandalorian and the entire Star Wars franchise after she shared controversial posts that likened being Republic to being Jewish during the Holocaust. She also stirred the pot for slamming COVID-19 vaccine mandates, the 2020 election results and trans rights.

"Gina Carano is not currently employed by Lucasfilm and there are no plans for her to be in the future," a Lucasfilm spokesperson said in a statement at the time. "Nevertheless, her social media posts denigrating people based on their cultural and religious identities are abhorrent and unacceptable."

Three years later, she sued the company for firing her. Disney, on the other hand, cited its First Amendment rights as the reason for axing Carano from the show.

Isaiah Washington, who played Dr. Preston Burke, was fired from Grey's Anatomy in 2007 for using a homophobic slur on set.

He mentioned the word again when he tried to deny the claims during his appearance at the Golden Globe Awards. He later issued an apology statement, which read, "I can neither defend nor explain my behavior. I can also no longer deny to myself that there are issues I obviously need to examine within my own soul, and I've asked for help."

Washington made his one final appearance on the show's tenth season.

Roseanne Barr was dismissed from the revival of her hit show Roseanne after she posted a racist tweet about then-President Barack Obama's senior aide, Valerie Jarrett.

Post-cancelation, she told the Los Angeles Times the network "denied" her "the right to apologize."

"Oh, my God, they just hated me so badly. I had never known that they hated me like that," she claimed. "They hate me because I have talent, because I have an opinion. Even though Roseanne became their No. 1 show, they'd rather not have a No. 1 show."

Before her death, Shannen Doherty revealed her unprofessional behavior on the set of Beverly Hills, 90210 had led to her firing.

"It wasn't anybody's responsibility but mine, but I sort of wish I would have been sat down and sort of looked at and said, 'Listen, the end result is going to be this, you are going to get fired and none of us are willing to put up with it anymore,'" Doherty explained. "And I understand that you have an issue in your personal life, but that also can't bleed into work and you need to get your s--- together!"

Three's Company decided to move on without Suzanne Somers after ousting her for requesting a pay raise like her costar John Ritter.

Her husband, Alan Hamel, reportedly thought after learning about the firing, "You just destroyed some of the greatest chemistry on television."

Criminal Minds relieved Thomas Gibson from the cast after 11 seasons following an altercation with a producer.

"Thomas Gibson has been dismissed from Criminal Minds," ABC Studios and CBS TV Studios said in a statement. "Creative details for how the character's exit will be addressed in the show will be announced at a later date."