Should Fred Willard Have Been Fired Over Lewd Conduct Charge?

Last night, longtime comedian Fred Willard was arrested by police in Hollywood for allegedly dropping his pants while at an adult theater. He was booked on a charge of lewd acts and released shortly thereafter. By this morning, the story was all over the papers, and in response, PBS decided to fire him from his job as the narrator on Market Warriors.

Now, a case could obviously be made that PBS has every right to fire someone involved in a scandal as bizarre as this. Celebrities have been canned for far less before and will be in the future too. On the other hand, it’s a bit unsettling that PBS acted so quickly. Willard denied anything inappropriate happened to TMZ this afternoon, and even the theater owner lashed out at the police because he didn’t see Willard do anything wrong.

Given his more than forty years in the industry, it’s highly unlikely the comedian will have any trouble resuming his career. In fact, the humorous ordeal might even land him a few roles in goofy comedies, but regardless if that happens, he still got fired quickly and mercilessly from his job within hours of an arrest. PBS has even announced it will reshoot the episodes he completed.

I think PBS showed have waited a few days to let the matter sort itself out. What do you think? Should Willard have been fired? Let us know your thoughts by voting in the poll below…

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Mack Rawden
Editor In Chief

Mack Rawden is the Editor-In-Chief of CinemaBlend. He first started working at the publication as a writer back in 2007 and has held various jobs at the site in the time since including Managing Editor, Pop Culture Editor and Staff Writer. He now splits his time between working on CinemaBlend’s user experience, helping to plan the site’s editorial direction and writing passionate articles about niche entertainment topics he’s into. He graduated from Indiana University with a degree in English (go Hoosiers!) and has been interviewed and quoted in a variety of publications including Digiday. Enthusiastic about Clue, case-of-the-week mysteries, a great wrestling promo and cookies at Disney World. Less enthusiastic about the pricing structure of cable, loud noises and Tuesdays.