Thomas Gibson Pursuing Legal Action After ‘Criminal Minds’ Termination
Thomas Gibson, who on Friday was fired from veteran CBS procedural Criminal Minds following an on-set altercation, is looking to file suit against the show’s producers.
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Per The Hollywood Reporter, Gibson has hired Los Angeles-based litigators Skip Miller and Sasha Frid to mull over whether it would be in his best interests to pursue legal action after he was dismissed for allegedly kicking writer Virgil Williams during a heated dispute over creative differences. Williams is said to have filed a complaint with human resources, forcing Gibson, who was directing the episode in question, to be replaced by an alternate director before he was initially suspended and subsequently let go.
Upon his dismissal on Friday, Gibson released a statement to TVLine in which he expressed sorrow for not being able to see Criminal Minds through to the very end, but did not at any point address the supposed conflict:
“I love Criminal Minds and have put my heart and soul into it for the last 12 years,” Gibson said. “I had hoped to see it through to the end, but that won’t be possible now. I would just like to say thank you to the writers, producers, actors, our amazing crew, and, most importantly, the best fans that a show could ever hope to have.”
As reported by our sister site Deadline, this latest incident was the second of its kind for Gibson, who years ago reportedly shoved an assistant director and was in turn assigned mandatory anger management classes.
Criminal Minds Season 12 premieres Wednesday, Sept. 28.
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