On the evening of Wednesday, July 18th, the Los Angeles Police Department conducted a random walk-through inspection of the Tiki triple-X Theater in Hollywood. In the process, veteran actor/comedian Fred Willard was arrested on suspicion of committing a lewd act.
Here are a few more details about the case.
L.A. Police were doing a routine sweep of an adult movie theater in Hollywood and found Willard, 72, alone and engaging in an unspecified lewd act. (Apparently, he was pleasuring himself.) He was arrested on suspicion of committing a lewd act and charged and released overnight.
As a consequence of his arrest, PBS fired Fred Willard from his job as “Market Warriors” host and narrator. “Given the unfortunate news reported today, effective immediately, Fred Willard no longer will be involved with the ‘Market Warriors’ series,” as a result of this incident,” said a spokesman for WGBH, the Boston-based PBS station that produces the show. Willard will be replaced by host Mark Walberg from “Antiques Roadshow.”
This comes as a surprise, considering Willard is a veteran comedy actor and a regular in Christopher Guest movies, including “Best in Show,” and “A Mighty Wind.” He has also made many guest appearances on television shows such as “Roseanne,” “King of the Hill,” and “Easy to Assemble.”
Albert Brooks, a comedy veteran like Willard, tweeted his support and offered a way to keep him out of future trouble.
“I love Fred Willard,” he wrote Thursday. “He’s a great guy. For his birthday I’m getting him a den and a computer.”
So far, the actor has not commented on the incident, but he is rumored to be up for the role of Peter Murphy in Sean Lackey’s “The Yank.”
Source: Washington Post, New York Daily News, IMDb