The role of Timothy Busfield has been edited out of Amazon MGM's upcoming romantic comedy, "You Deserve Each Other," following allegations of child sexual abuse, as reported by The Hollywood Reporter.
"You Deserve Each Other," starring Meghann Fahy and Penn Badgley, is based on Sarah Hogle's bestselling 2020 novel of the same name. The film follows an engaged couple who have fallen out of love and try to sabotage each other into calling off their wedding, only to fall back in love in the process. Busfield was originally cast as Bernie, the father of Fahy's character, Naomi. However, a release date for the film has yet to be announced.
On January 9th, an arrest warrant was issued for the actor and director for conduct involving children that allegedly happened on the set of Fox's "The Cleaning Lady," as previously confirmed by THR. Busfield later turned himself in to authorities in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
He has been charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and child abuse following an investigation of sexual abuse involving two male minors on the drama, which he directed several episodes for as well as played a small part in one episode. While the West Wing alum has claimed his innocence of the allegations, he has since been hit with a second sexual abuse allegation. According to a prosecution filing, Busfield is accused of groping a teenage girl when she was auditioning for a role several years ago at the B Street Theatre in Sacramento, California.
Busfield previously faced sexual abuse allegations from a 17-year-old extra working on the 1994 film "Little Big League," which he directed. He settled with that accuser. And in 2012, another woman claimed that he groped her on a date, but charges were never filed against him at the time.
Amid these new accusations, his talent agency, Innovative Artists, has ceased working with him. Additionally, an episode of "Law & Order: SVU" in which he guest-starred has also been pulled. The actor will be in court next on January 20th for his pretrial detention hearing.
