Clayne Crawford Screamed at Children During Explicit ‘Lethal Weapon’ Rant

Videos are coming out about Clayne Crawford’s behavior on the set of Lethal Weapon, and one incident shows the star lashing out at children.

In Variety‘s deep dive into Crawford’s firing, they obtained a video of the actor, who played Martin Riggs on the show, expressing growing frustrations about a scene being messed up because of noise.

In the scene, Riggs was talking down a man with a gun to head. Apparently the set, which was at a Los Angeles public pool, was not properly closed and several children, believed to be 10-11 years old, were making too much background noise. This led to a “crucial” shot being filmed over and over again, which set the now-fired actor off.

“Shut the f— up!” Crawford yells. “G— Newman, f—ing they’re right here! Get somebody in here with a f—ing walkie and shut ’em the f— up! Or did we not pay for this f—ing place? If we did, shut ’em the f— up!”

The offending children were allegedly in earshot of the actor at the time.

One source on the crew attempted to downplay that particular incident, citing that everyone was frustrated with the situation.

“He lost his cool and got angry,” the crew member said. “He should have handled it another way, sure. But we were all tired and angry.”

However, a second crew member on set that day thought Crawford crossed the lines with his “apoplectic” outburst.

This incident directly led to one of the show’s assistant directors quitting on the spot. They cited Crawford’s behavior as the reason for their exit.

Tensions continued past this point, with Crawford acting increasingly difficult during the next day of shooting, which was led by director Eric Laneuville. It got so bad that Laneuville allegedly tagged out and let the actor and stunt coordinator helm the scene.

“After the escalating tension with Clayne, it’s my belief that Eric felt he could not be effective,” a crew member said. “So when it came to this next scene, he just metaphorically threw up his hands and let Clayne and the stunt coordinator deal with the whole scene. That’s basically how the remainder of the scene was shot.”

Crawford has since apologized for this incident, as well as another involving co-star Damon Wayans, once it came to light earlier this year.

“It is true that I have been reprimanded twice during the past two seasons of Lethal Weapon,” Crawford wrote. “The first reprimand was because I reacted with anger over working conditions that did not feel safe or conducive to good work under the leadership of a guest director and assistant director, who, in turn, were angry at my response.”

He continued, “The second reprimand happened just a few weeks ago during the episode I was directing. An actor on set felt unsafe because a piece of shrapnel from an effect hit him. It was an unfortunate event that happened in spite of all precautions and procedures being followed. I take responsibility for the incident, because I was in charge of the set. I absolutely love, respect, and care for my crew and cast and would never intentionally jeopardize so many jobs.”

Photo Credit: Fox / Ray Mickshaw