‘Lost’ showrunners respond to toxic workplace allegations

‘Lost’ was an American drama series that ran on ABC from September 2004 to May 2010 and concluded with 121 episodes. However, several members of the cast and crew have since spoken up about the racism and toxic workplace environment they allegedly endured on set.

Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse have confronted these allegations in Maureen Ryan’s new book ‘Burn It Down’ in which Lindelof admits that he “failed” to provide “safety and comfort” in the writers’ room.

The accusations

Harold Perrineau, who played Michael Dawson, in over 60 episodes of the show, expressed his frustration over his white co-stars obtaining major storylines in comparison to actors of color who were shoved to the sidelines.

“It became pretty clear that I was the Black guy. Daniel [Dae Kim] was the Asian guy. And then you had Jack and Kate and Sawyer,” Perrineau said.

A writer on the show, who chose to remain anonymous, alleged that members of the writing staff were constantly told that the white characters, like Sawyer (Josh Holloway), Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly) and Locke (Terry O’Quinn), were considered the “hero characters” and that “nobody cares about these other characters. Just give them a few scenes on another beach.”

Perrineau claims to have brought up these concerns to a producer by saying, “I don’t have to be the first, I don’t have to have the most episodes — but I’d like to be in the mix. But it seems like this is now a story about Jack and Kate and Sawyer.”

The producer allegedly responded with, “this is just how audiences follow stories.”

After raising his concerns, it was announced that Perrineau’s character would not be returning on the show.

Other writers accused Lindelof and Cuse to have “tolerated or even encouraged the overall atmosphere” by making racist and toxic comments often.

Lindelof’s response

“My level of fundamental inexperience as a manager and a boss, my role as someone who was supposed to model a climate of creative danger and risk-taking but provide safety and comfort inside of the creative process — I failed in that endeavor,” Lindelof said.

“[Hollywood tokenism is] what I saw in the business around me. And so I was like, okay, as long as there are one or two [writers] who don’t look and think exactly like me, then, then I’m okay. I came to learn that was even worse.

“For those specific individuals, forget about the ethics or the morality involved around that decision, but just talking about the human effect of being the only woman or the only person of color and how you are treated and othered — I was a part of that, a thousand percent.”