Afton Williamson Quit The Rookie After Allegations of Sexual Harassment, Racial Bullying Went Largely Ignored

Afton Williamson says that she quit her role on ABC’s The Rookie after complaints she made throughout Season 1 about racial bullying and sexual harassment went largely ignored.

As TVLine reported on July 26, Williamson is not returning for Season 2 of the procedural, where she played training officer Talia Bishop opposite Nathan Fillion’s title character. Now, in her first social media post since early May (embedded below), the actress alleges that starting with the pilot shoot in spring 2018 and throughout all of Season 1, she “experienced racial discrimination/racially charged inappropriate comments from the hair department,” as well as sexual harassment from a recurring guest star.

She also alleges that the bullying from the hair department escalated into sexual assault at the Season 1 wrap party.

“HR protocol was never adhered to following the above reports given by me to my showrunner/EP [Alexi Hawley],” Williamson alleges in her Instagram post, “and an investigation was never issued for any of my claims.”

Williamson says the hair department head was fired only after the alleged instance of sexual assault, while the alleged sexual harassment by the recurring guest star, “though reported directly to the showrunner/EP [Alexi Hawley], remained undocumented and was not reported to HR as promised.”

Despite being told that “everything was handled” following a June meeting that she called — involving showrunner Hawley, two other producers, her agent and a SAG-AFTRA union representative — “The investigation hadn’t even begun and Season 2 had already started filming,” Williamson claims. So, “I walked.”

TVLine on early Sunday morning reached out to both ABC and production studio eOne for comment. Showrunner Hawley previously told TVLine of Williamson’s most unexpected exit, “It’s not really my place to get into her personal decision.”

Bishop was a major character and significant presence during Season 1, begrudgingly taking under her wing Nathan Fillion’s John Nolan, a fortysomething rookie whose underperformance could very well stymie her career path. How will The Rookie fill this important void in its central TO/rookie relationship? As TVLine reported in June, the series is that role has since been cast with Lost alum Harold Perrineau.

With Fillion, as well as Alyssa Diaz, Richard T. Jones, Titus Makin Jr., Melissa O’Neil and Eric Winter all set to return, The Rookie reports back for duty on Sept. 29, now airing Sundays at 10/9c.

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