No help from Olivia Pope here! Stephen Collins has been cut from an upcoming episode of Scandal, ABC tells Us Weekly in a statement. The move comes after news broke that the 7th Heaven alum allegedly confessed to child molestation.
"We can confirm that we will not be airing any footage with Stephen Collins," ABC tells Us in a statement regarding the scenes he shot for an upcoming season four episode.
Collins, who has yet to address the claims, previously tweeted his excitement to appear on the hit Shonda Rhimes drama. "Happy to say I did another episode of #Scandal. Had a gr8 time. Wish I could say more but @ShondaRhimes would have to kill me," he wrote on Sept. 23. (Collins appeared in season two as anchorman Reed Wallace in episode "Happy Birthday, Mr. President").
In audio tapes released by TMZ, Collins allegedly revealed that he came into contact with multiple female children, and at one point, can be heard saying things like, "There was one moment of touching where her hand, I put her hand on my penis."
Following the release of the audio, Collins was also fired from upcoming flick Ted 2 and 7th Heaven reruns were pulled from the air.
"As a top family-friendly network, we are deeply concerned for the families that are potentially affected by these disturbing allegations surrounding actor Stephen Collins," UP TV President Charley Humbard said in a statement yesterday. "7th Heaven has been a beloved family show and a fan-favorite on our network. We have made the decision to remove the series from our schedule effective at 5 p.m. ET today."
In a statement to Us Weekly, Kim Y. Royster, Deputy Chief Commanding Officer, Public Information Division said that "there is a formal complaint on file and the incident is being investigated by the Manhattan Special Victims Squad."
