T.J. Miller’s “The Gorburger Show” has been scrapped by Comedy Central after one season, the network announced Tuesday.
The news of the animated series’ cancellation comes the same day the Daily Beast reported sexual misconduct accusations against Miller dating from his college days. However, the network had already made the decision earlier this year not to continue with the show, a source with knowledge of production tells TheWrap.
Miller both operated and voiced Gorburger, an alien puppet character, for an alternative talk show.
Ryan McNeely and Josh Martin created, wrote, directed, and served as executive producers for the series. Comedy Central ordered the project to series back in January, with Sean Boyle executive producing for Funny or Die, along with producer Caviar.
“The Gorburger Show” ran for two seasons and 19 episodes on Funny or Die before shifting over to HBO as a pilot in 2015, then to Comedy Central.
The former “Silicon Valley” star and his wife, Kate, have responded to accusations that Miller sexually assaulted and punched a woman while in college.
“We stand together in stating this is nothing more than an unfortunate resurgence of her lies designed to wreak havoc on two happily married people in the public eye,” the Millers’ statement reads. “We stand together and will not allow this person to take advantage of a serious movement toward gender equality by allowing her to use this moment to muddy the water with an unrelated personal agenda.”
The statement also says, “we met this woman over a decade ago while studying together in college, she attempted to break us up back then by plotting for over a year before making contradictory claims and accusations. She attempted to discredit both of our voices and use us against one another by trying to portray Kate to be a continuous abuse victim of T.J. (further efforts to hurt the two of us).”
Kate and T.J. Miller were dating in college, and when Kate went abroad, Miller starting dating the accuser mentioned in The Daily Beast story. Upon Kate’s return, Miller reunited with her, an individual with knowledge told TheWrap.
In an interview with The Daily Beast, a woman who asked to remain anonymous and was identified by the publication as Sarah, said that she and Miller attended George Washington University and fell into the same comedy troupe, where they struck up a relationship.
Sarah said the first encounter took place in 2001, recalling that she had “a lot to drink” and admitted that there are “parts of [the incident] I don’t remember.” Sarah said she remembered that she and Miller were “fooling around” at her apartment when he began “shaking me violently” and punched her in the mouth during intercourse. Sarah said she suffered a fractured tooth and a bloodied lip.
A few days after the first incident, the two began having consensual sex when “Miller became violent again,” and said her memory of that night was “crystal clear.”
According to the publication, Miller has privately joked about violence against women in the past, prompting some female performers to decline working with him. Four female comedians and bookers told The Daily Beast they had heard about the accusations.
Comedy Central did not immediately respond to TheWrap’s request for comment.
The Hollywood Reporter first reported the news.