Actor Leonard Roberts says race was a factor in his Heroes departure gazettextra.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from gazettextra.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Leonard Roberts, who appeared on NBC s hit series Heroes from 2006 to 2007, penned an essay for Variety on Tuesday that described clashes with co-star Ali Larter on set as well as a troubling experience with systemic racism.
Roberts, known for roles in the movie Drumline and the show Buffy the Vampire Slayer, landed his first series regular role on Heroes, playing D.L. Hawkins, whose character was in an interracial marriage with Larter s Niki Sanders. In his piece for Variety, Roberts writes Larter balked when it came time to film an intimate scene with his character and the issues between them eventually led to his firing after the show s first season. He also notes the show had several Black series regulars but no Black writers in its first season.
Former
Heroesstar Leonard Roberts is opening up about his contentious exit from the hit show early in the second season, claiming in a new essay that he clashed with his main costar, Ali Larter, and was met with perceived indifference from creator and showrunner Tim Kring, leading him to feel singled out as a Black actor.
In a first-person piece for
Variety,Roberts said that despite playing Larter s onscreen husband on the NBC drama, she expressed discomfort at doing an intimate bedroom scene with him and later excluded him from discussions about their shared scenes. Roberts said he was later told by Kring that his character would be killed off over the Ali Larter situation, while she got to stay on the show.
Leonard Roberts has revealed the struggles he endured in his first series-regular acting role on the hit TV show “Heroes,” which he considers race-related. And former costar Ali Larter has issued an apology, noting that his account “absolutely doesn’t match my memory nor experience on the show,” which ran on NBC for four seasons from 2006 to 2010.
“Drumline” star Roberts played D.L. Hawkins, husband to Larter’s Niki Sanders, in the first season of the series, which was a giant springboard to success for many in its cast, including Milo Ventimiglia, Zachary Quinto, Masi Oka and Hayden Panettiere. Roberts’ character was killed off, off-camera, after the first season.
‘Heroes’ star Leonard Roberts claims racism, ‘tension’ with Ali Larter led to exit
Roberts was killed off at the end of Season 1 on Heroes after tension with Ali Larter
Heroes star
Leonard Roberts landed a plum role on the NBC series that was meant to be his breakout role. However, he just revealed he was subjected to systematic racism and singled out by his leading lady, Ali Larter.
Roberts shared his experience on the NBC superhero drama that ran from 2006 to 2010. He played D.L. Hawkins but was fired after the first season. In an essay for
Variety published on Wednesday, the actor opened up about the behind-the-scenes tension that he felt showrunner