Two weeks ago, Kurt Sutter was axed from “Mayans M.C.”, and now he’s revealing that his firing was due to an admittedly tasteless joke that he says rubbed Disney execs the wrong way.
According to an earlier report from Deadline, an email was reportedly circulated to the show’s cast and crew to inform them Sutter had been terminated.
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Sutter co-created and executive produced “Mayans M.C.” with Elgin James. It was known that Sutter had planned to pass the reigns on “Mayans M.C.” over to Elgin for season three, but the suddenness of the firing was reportedly acrimonious.
He attributed his removal from the show to Dana Walden, Chairman, Disney Television Studios and ABC Entertainment; and John Landgraf, Chairman of FX Networks and FX Productions, and offered more details in a new interview with Deadline, published on Oct. 29.
According to Sutter, he blames his firing on an offensive joke he placed in one of the episode’s scripts aimed at Disney, new corporate owner of FX following the recent acquisition of Fox.
“Here’s what I did wrong on the studio network side, the reason why I had to go away. It all started with a joke. And not a very good one,” Sutter told Deadline.
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“There was a line in the season-two premiere. EZ [JD Pardo] and Coco [Richard Cabral] were getting off the bus at the school where the drugs were being processed. There was supposed to be a really gnarly playground out front. Filled with debris, dangerous looking swings, sharp objects, rusty jungle gym, etc. As they exited, Coco sees EZ’s distracted and says: ‘Lighten up Boy Scout,’ and, gesturing to the playground, says, ‘We’re going to Disneyland.’ EZ replies: ‘Yeah? Guess this is where Walt buried all the Jews he had killed.’ Coco comments: ‘That’s dark man…’ And exits.”
After receiving pushback, Sutter rewrote the line — and didn’t make it any less offensive.
“So when I was informed that the… line had to go, I agreed and changed it to… ‘We’re going to Disneyland.’ And now EZ says, ‘Yeah… if Mickey and Pluto were pedophiles.'”
Admitting that making that change “was a ‘f**k you’ on my part,” Sutter explained that he takes full responsibility for his termination.
“Bottom line, I created the circumstances that led to my being forced out,” he said. “I overestimated my value and underestimated the unf**kability of the mouse. I feel the way they expedited and qualified the move was unfair, but the truth is, it was not a good fit and I had to go.”
