F. Murray Abraham Apologizes for Misconduct After 'Mythic Quest' Firing

By Ashley Turner

F. Murray Abraham has publicly apologized for what happened on the set of the Apple TV+ series Mythic Quest. "This is a sincere and deeply felt apology," he said in the statement. "Though never my intention to offend anyone, I told jokes, nothing more, that upset some of my colleagues and as a result lost a great job with wonderful people. I have grown in my understanding from this experience, and I hope they will forgive me." Abraham's statement follows a recent report in Rolling Stone stating that he was terminated from the series due to two allegations of misconduct. The report indicates that Abraham was given a warning after the first complaint and let go after the creator of the show and the star, Rob McElhenney, became aware of a second complaint that had been brought to his attention.

Lionsgate Television, which produces Mythic Quest, previously stated, "We take allegations of misconduct seriously and investigate them thoroughly. As a matter of corporate policy, we do not comment on personnel actions." At the time of this publication, none of the stars of Mythic Quest have released any public statements regarding the misconduct report. Initially, Abraham played the character C.W. Longbottom on Mythic Quest for the first two seasons, and he was not brought back for the third, wherein it was explained that C.W. was terminally ill and chose to die in a heroic fashion. "It's a bummer to not have Murray in this season," McElhenney had said in 2022 prior to Season 3. "But we recognize that C.W. is a beloved character and obviously a huge part of the show. So, we made sure that we have a really fitting tribute to him. We definitely address it in a big way."

Abraham told Vanity Fair in 2021 that he found his Mythic Quest role a "special gift" for his career. "I've done a whole lot of work and there are certain things I look for. One of [them] is community. To find that kind of connection and humanity is so hard because it's so segmented."  As part of a flashback episode from the show's second season, it was revealed that the character he played was not necessarily what he seemed. McElhenney said as recently as 2021 that viewers are encouraged to empathize with even the darkest aspects of its characters: "Aren't we all recognizing that life is messy and that people can be both a good person and a bad person on the same day?"

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