‘Ted 2′ Fires Stephen Collins Following Child Abuse Allegations
Stephen Collins has been fired from director Seth MacFarlane's 'Ted 2' today after a recording of the actor admitting to child molestation made its way online. This horrifying news is compounded by the fact that Collins is best known for playing the loving Rev. Eric Camden on the beloved family drama '7th Heaven' for 11 seasons.
As you'd expect, the situation is a messy and unpleasant one. Collins' soon-to-be-ex-wife Fay Grant recorded one of their therapy sessions back in 2012, which featured the actor admitting to crimes against girls aged 10-13. That tape was released on TMZ today. A police investigation is in progress, and Universal and MacFarlane made the wise choice to immediately fire Collins from the sequel to their 2012 comedy hit. At this point, it is unclear if any of his scenes have been shot, but EW, which first reported the news, states that his role was small enough that production won't be affected in any way.
Considering how the first 'Ted' used 'Flash Gordon' actor Sam Jones to humorous effect by casting him as an exaggerated version of himself, it feels likely that 'Ted 2' was going for a similar joke by bringing Collins into the fold. A few days ago, the idea of the dad from something as clean cut as '7th Heaven' appearing in a raunchy movie about a foulmouthed teddy bear seemed funny. Today, not so much.