Leonard Roberts Accuses ‘Heroes’ Co-Star Ali Larter of Mistreatment: ‘I Couldn’t Help Wondering Whether Race Was a Factor’

Leonard Roberts (Drumline, Buffy the Vampire Slayer) has made a career of being a standout supporting character throughout many of his roles on film and TV. But the actor is now coming forward to say he feels he received little to no support from his Heroes co-star Ali Larter and the show’s creator/showrunner Tim Kring, accusing them of mistreatment.

In his essay for Variety, the actor detailed a series of racial incidents he experienced while on the set of the fictional supernatural series. Roberts played D.L. Hawkins, the husband of Nikki Sanders (Larter) on the show. After first explaining how his character — who was originally written in the pilot episode — was sidelined in the first five episodes, he went on to detail how rising tensions between him and his fictional wife throughout the first season led to his eventual termination. One incident described puts Roberts and Larter on set during an intimate scene that finished with an “intense and loud conversation in which she expressed she had never been so disrespected — as an actress, a woman or a human being,” he penned.

“Greg Beeman, our director, asked if she was willing to lower the straps of the top she was wearing and expose her bare shoulders only above the sheet that covered her, in order to give the visual impression she was in the same state of undress as me, as I was shirtless,” Roberts said. “My co-star refused Beeman’s request, and I was instantly aware of the tension on the set. I remember instinctively checking to make sure both my hands were visible to everyone who was there, as not to have my intentions or actions misconstrued. Despite Beeman’s clear description of what he was looking for visually, my co-star insisted she was, indeed, being asked to remove her top completely, and rehearsal was cut.”

The actor went on to express that through his conversations with another cast member, Adrian Pasdar who also shared intimate scenes with Larter, he learned the two actors didn’t have the same experience. Pasdar allegedly described Larter’s behavior as open to collaboration and improvisation. “I pondered why my co-star had exuberantly played a different scene with the Petrelli character involving overt sexuality while wearing lingerie, but found aspects of one involving love and intimacy expressed through dialogue with my character, her husband, disrespectful to her core. I couldn’t help wondering whether race was a factor,” he shared.

Due to the actors’ inability to get along, Roberts says he received a call from showrunner Kring shortly after the end of the show’s first season telling him that his character had been killed off in Season 2.

In a statement given to TVLine, Larter responded to Roberts comments saying, “I am deeply saddened to hear about Leonard Roberts’ experience on Heroes and I am heartbroken reading his perception of our relationship, which absolutely doesn’t match my memory nor experience on the show. I respect Leonard as an artist and I applaud him or anyone using their voice and platform. I am truly sorry for any role I may have played in his painful experience during that time and I wish him and his family the very best.”