Fred Savage was accused of sexually assaulting a former crew member who worked on “The Wonder Years” reboot and would routinely “verbally harass and belittle” below-the-line staff on set, according to a group of six women who brought up the allegations to Disney HR ahead of his public ousting in May, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
The star of the original “Wonder Years” was fired as director and executive producer of its reboot following an investigation into charges of inappropriate behavior, a spokesman for 20th Television confirmed to TheWrap in early May. Specifics regarding the misconduct were not revealed. Now, some of the women, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told The Hollywood Reporter they “feel that people need to know what the wrongdoing was.”
The crew members described two sides Savage presented to people he interacted with — one that was “very charming” and “social” and another that “manipulative,” “erratic” and “scary.” Particularly, those who reported the actor to HR were concerned about his relationship with a younger woman, of whom he was “extremely controlling.” One crew member recalled that she attempted to shield the woman from Savage, at which point “he proceeded to verbally harass me and belittle me.” She added that “he pulled me aside multiple times” and “when he was verbally harassing me, his eyes would go dead. But then “he flips a switch and he’s Fred Savage.”
Another woman who said she reported Savage found his “very blatant favoritism” toward yet another woman in her early 30s disturbing (Savage is 46 and married with three children).
“I’ve been in the industry a long time. I’ve never seen anything quite like this, and I’ve seen a lot,” she told the Hollywood Reporter.
She added that Savage eventually befriended her, charmed her parents and once invited her out to a bar with a group, where he cornered her in the women’s bathroom and forcibly kissed and groped her.
“She said he approached her with “dead eyes” and pushed her against a wall, adding “I said, ‘Please, don’t do this.’ I meant ruining the friendship. I was pleading, not from fear so much, but this was no going back.”
The woman was able to get out of the situation, though she said his advances persisted over text, including when he demanded she meet with him with a singular message reading “Tonight.”
A voicemail provided to The Hollywood Reporter that Savage sent to the woman weeks later stated: “It’s your old friend Fred. We worked together for a while and then we didn’t and then I was a huge asshole. A huge asshole. And I’m really sorry. And I’ve kind of owed you an apology for a minute here and so, uh, the truth is I really like you and I really want to be friends and I’m so sorry that I fucked that up.”
A spokesperson for 20th Television said the company had no further comment.
The actor said in a statement to TheWrap, “Since I was 6 years old, I have worked on hundreds of sets with thousands of people, and have always strived to contribute to an inclusive, safe and supportive work environment. It is devastating to learn that there are co-workers who feel I have fallen short of these goals. While there are some incidents being reported that absolutely did not and could not have happened, any one person who feels hurt or offended by my actions is one person too many. I will work to address and change any behavior that has negatively affected anyone, as nothing in this world is more important to me than being a supportive co-worker, friend, husband, father and person.”
Savage’s firing from “The Wonder Years” reboot wasn’t his first encounter with trouble related to alleged misconduct.
In 1993, a costumer on the original ABC show, Monique Long, sued Savage for daily verbal and sexual harassment. The case was settled for an undisclosed amount and Savage denied the allegations. In 2018, a lawsuit from three years earlier filed by Youngjoo Hwang, a former wardrobe department crew member on Fox’s “The Grinder,” claimed that Savage “berated her, struck her arm and behaved aggressively toward female employees.” Fox found no evidence of wrongdoing and the lawsuit was settled. Savage once again denied wrongdoing.
“These men in charge know what the public is looking for and they know what words to use,” one crew member told The Hollywood Reporter. “We all felt supported by Fred. We truly thought he supported women. He told us he supported women. But this kind of support isn’t real.”
If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, help is available at rainn.org/resources.