More accusations of bad behavior are emerging about Scott Rudin. In recent days, the mega-producer has stepped down from his shows on Broadway and his work in Hollywood (film starring the likes of Amy Adams and Amy Schumer). Over the weekend, resigned from the Broadway League. On Thursday, hundreds of theater workers marched down Broadway, demanding inclusivity and demanding his ouster.
He has been accused of physically abusing his staff in a series of explosive reports. Over the weekend, Rita Wilson, David Geffen, Robert Fox and Adam Rapp shared their stories with the New York Times. Wilson talked about her experience working with Rudin on Broadway for Larry David’s 2015 play “Fish in the Dark,” the same year she was diagnosed with breast cancer.
“When she told Mr. Rudin the news, she said, he complained that she would need time off during Tony voting season and asked to see her medical records, while Anna Shapiro, the director, grew upset about having to find a replacement,” the story reads. “A few days later, just before the curtains rose, Ms. Wilson received a call from her agent, saying her surgeon needed to call the insurance adjuster immediately, per Mr. Rudin’s demands. The memory still pains her.”
“I felt like he was trying to find a way to fire me legally,” Wilson told the New York Times. “He is the kind of person who makes someone feel worthless, unvaluable and replaceable.”
A spokesman for Rudin told the New York Times that “his recollection was that Ms. Wilson had wanted to open the show and then leave, but that he and the director had not wanted her to delay treatment.”
"South Park” creator Matt Stone (also one of the writers on Broadway’s “The Book of Mormon”) said he and producer Anne Garefino gave Rudin an ultimatum before he announced last weekend he’d be stepping back from Broadway. “I said, ‘Your actions have made it impossible for us to keep working together,’” Stone said.
“He’s had a bad temper,” Geffen told the New York Times, “and he clearly needs to do anger management or something like that.”