After Michael Muhney was fired from The Young and the Restless mere weeks before his contract ended fans were in a uproar, and rightfully so. For all they knew a beloved character, Adam Newman, has been axed unceremoniously. Upon further review of the situation, it was revealed that Michael Muhney was let go because female costar Hunter King accused him of fondling her breasts and demanded that he be fired months earlier.
Since the incident occurred, Muhney has been relatively quiet, he did however break his silence when he tweeted “Benjamin Franklin said it best, ‘Believe none of what you hear and half of what you see.’…and that quote doesn’t only apply to what is being said about ME. It also applies to others. Please be kind to everyone. #respect“.
That statement is saying very little and that’s probably a good thing, there are too many aspects to this story including the accusation that Executive Producer Jill Farren Phelps is on some Machiavellian crusade to kill the soaps we all grew up watching by either making fan favorites un-recognizable or killing them off completely.
The plot further thickens when former show runner Maria Arena Bell suggests that Michael Muhney has a history of bad behavior and should have been let go ages ago. She suggests that Jill Farren Phelps knew of impropriety but chose to make dealing with the situation advantageous to the storyline by making the character of Adam hated. That seems to have backfired and all we have are angry fans and a potential victim forced to face the alleged groper even after his inappropriate behavior was reported.
This whole thing is sad all around, what do you guys think? Was Hunter King’s safety put on the back burner in favor of logistics for the show? Frankly there are probably specs of truth here and there – this situation much like the storylines on soaps is certainly not black or white. Sexual harassment is serious, especially when the actors act out love scenes as frequently as these actors do. It’s a shame that Hunter King was forced to deal with such a hostile workplace, especially in favor of a plan which has seemed to backfire leaving nothing but angry fans and disgruntled employees.
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