The 15 Most Controversial TV Show Exits In History

Television shows aren't meant to last forever. Although some soap operas and sitcoms find extended lives across decades, for other shows, keeping a cast together for years at a time gets trickier as careers go on. Whether it's the latest hit on a streaming service or one of the longest-running TV series of all time, there can be a lot of drama surrounding the departures of integral cast members, especially when they're preceded by behind-the-scenes drama that gets aired out in public.

For these 15 television stars, their tenures on shows were cut short either by their own personal controversies, disagreements with the showrunners and networks, or simply because they felt like their time on the show was coming to an end before anyone else did. Though some went on to do great things despite dramatically leaving the roles that might've made them famous, others still feel the blowback of those decisions to this day. 

There have been plenty of "Saturday Night Live" firings that upset fans of the show, but none as pivotal to the show's history as the late, great Norm Macdonald. The stand-up comic joined "SNL" in 1993, quickly becoming host of "Weekend Update" and garnering a reputation for his jokes about the O.J. Simpson trial, including his announcement of the not guilty verdict: "It's official: Murder is now legal in the state of California." Unfortunately, these jokes didn't go over well with NBC West Coast's then-president, Don Ohlmeyer, a personal friend of Simpson.

Just a few years after Adam Sandler and Chris Farley were notably fired from the show, Macdonald was let go from "SNL" over the holiday break of 1997-1998, with Michaels having received the call amidst his travels for Farley's funeral. Macdonald's co-writer and longtime "SNL" veteran Jim Downey was also fired, but thankfully, Macdonald's career remained intact despite alleged attempts by Ohlmeyer to blacklist Macdonald from other shows. In fact, Macdonald went on to host "SNL" a year later in 1999, so who's laughing now? 

It's not that surprising that Trey Parker and Matt Stone once went so far on "South Park" that they alienated one of their own cast members... or so they thought. One of the most famous episodes of the show was Season 9's "Trapped in the Closet," an episode that lampoons the Church of Scientology and its most famous member, Tom Cruise. Unfortunately, they not only garnered anger from the church itself (as well as Cruise), but the episode also resulted in Hayes leaving "South Park" (and his character, Chef, getting killed off in the Season 10 premiere, ironically titled "The Return of Chef").

Himself a Scientologist, Hayes ostensibly quit the show in protest of its mockery of his religion, but he would later contradict this by claiming he was leaving because of a pay dispute. Either way, Chef was killed off at the beginning of the show's 10th season in yet another episode lampooning Hayes' involvement in the Church. (It's since been alleged by his son that he was forced to exit the series by Scientology.) Hayes passed away in 2008, and Chef has remained absent from future seasons of the animated series.

Lisa Bonet rose to prominence in the 1980s as a main cast member on "The Cosby Show," playing Denise, the teenage daughter of Cliff Huxtable (Bill Cosby) and Clair (Phylicia Rashad). Though the role brought her acclaim and an Emmy nomination, things were not as rosy on the set of the NBC series. Notably, Bonet and Cosby clashed, particularly over Bonet's explicit role in the 1987 film "Angel Heart," her marriage to rock star Lenny Kravitz, and her nude photoshoot for Interview magazine, which created a media frenzy and jeopardized Bonet's role on the sitcom. 

Ultimately, the agreement Cosby came to with Bonet was taking Denise off "The Cosby Show" and giving her a spin-off sitcom of her own called "A Different World." However, once Bonet became pregnant with Zoë Kravitz, Cosby allegedly had her written off her own show. Bonet returned to "The Cosby Show" during its fifth season until she was ultimately, once again, fired by Cosby after the seventh season.

"Grey's Anatomy" has seen a lot of its major cast members come and go throughout its 22 seasons, including its titular star Ellen Pompeo. Of all the drama surrounding cast exits on "Grey's Anatomy," few have created as much of a media frenzy as the departure of Katherine Heigl's Izzie Stevens during the sixth season of the ABC drama. Although Heigl won an Emmy for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Drama in 2007 for her performance on the show, she later took her name out of awards consideration following her own criticisms of the character's development.

Behind-the-scenes turmoil and overall negative public reaction to Heigl's criticisms of the show jeopardized her character's future, and she was eventually written off the series after Heigl requested a release from her contract, citing a desire to spend more time with her family. This, in conjunction with Heigl's statements about working on the Judd Apatow film "Knocked Up" and rumors she did not show up to set on "Grey's Anatomy," had Heigl labeled as difficult to work with, but public opinion has eased up in recent years.

Production on the CBS sitcom "Two and a Half Men" had already been stalled by star Charlie Sheen's stint in rehabilitation for drugs and alcohol, but things got out of hand when his comments about showrunner Chuck Lorre and claims of having "tiger blood" took the internet by storm in 2011. Sheen was fired, and his Charlie Harper character was unceremoniously killed off-screen; he was replaced by Ashton Kutcher, who played a new character, Walden Schmidt.

Although Sheen never returned to the series, it didn't take long for him to return to television. He led a new sitcom, "Anger Management," on FX, was the star of his own Comedy Central Roast, and just recently in 2025 was the subject of the Netflix documentary "aka Charlie Sheen."

Although it's revered as an underrated cult classic now, "Community" struggled to stay on the air throughout its six seasons (and a movie?). However, things took a turn for the worse when series creator Dan Harmon was ousted by NBC after having a public feud with one of the show's stars, Chevy Chase, over Chase's criticism of the show not being "funny enough" for him and Harmon's public airing of their dirty laundry. During Harmon's time away from "Community," Chase's frustration with the writers resulted in an on-set tirade in which he uttered slurs that gave NBC no choice but to fire him immediately. 

After Season 4, Harmon came back, with Chase making a brief cameo in the first episode of Season 5. However, his character was killed off a few episodes later, putting a nail into the coffin (literally) of Chase's chances of reprising his role in the "Community" movie. Luckily, the show brought in another veteran actor — Jonathan Banks of "Breaking Bad" fame — to play Buzz Hickey, an ex-cop-turned-criminology professor, and maybe the show was better off for it.

One of the more notable TV actor exits in recent memory was Kevin Spacey's controversial departure from Netflix's "House of Cards." What began as Netflix's first foray into making prestige TV ended in a mess of a final season when Spacey was fired by Netflix ahead of the sixth and final season after sexual assault allegations were leveled against its star. Thankfully, Spacey's co-star Robin Wright elevated the muddled season as Claire Underwood, the wife of conniving politician Frank Underwood, who assumes power following her husband's death. 

If only the story of Frank Underwood ended at that point. After a period of time in which Spacey was out of the spotlight, the actor reprised his role as Frank in an eerie video on his personal YouTube channel, which became something of an unwanted Christmas Eve tradition. Spacey also reprised his role in an ad for comedian Tim Dillon's Netflix special, which is especially surprising given how quick Netflix was to cut ties with the actor following his public cancellation.

To Roseanne Barr's credit, she hasn't exactly marketed herself as the most likable figure in Hollywood, even back in her heyday. The comedienne's sitcom "Roseanne" originally ran from 1988 to 1997 and saw critical acclaim for how it represented a demographic of the country often neglected in Los Angeles or New York City-centric television shows. More than 20 years after its ninth season finale, ABC announced in 2018 that it would be reviving "Roseanne" with returning cast members including John Goodman, Laurie Metcalf, and Sara Gilbert. 

However, in 2018, Barr landed in hot water after posting a racist tweet about Barack Obama's former advisor, Valerie Jarrett. She was immediately fired by ABC, which would've essentially rendered "Roseanne" canceled, given, well, it's named after her. However, ABC decided to keep it going under a new name, "The Conners" — a good revival that could've been great if they'd honored "Roseanne" history. Barr has since defended her statement as political and not personal, and continued her stand-up career with the 2023 "Cancel This!" special.

Few media circuses are as memorable as the events that resulted in Jussie Smollett's firing from "Empire." The actor had starred on the Fox drama for five seasons, garnering acclaim for his performance as well as the show's representation of having a gay Black man in a prominent role on television. Smollett made headlines in 2019 after reporting himself to the police as a victim of a hate crime in Chicago, which initially garnered support from the internet and public figures like Kamala Harris, Viola Davis, and even President Donald Trump. 

Weeks later, though, a Chicago grand jury indicted Smollett on 16 felony counts related to his alleged staging of the hate crime, including a felony charge for filing a false police report. This later resulted in a high-profile trial after which Smollett was sentenced to 150 days in jail. His conviction was overturned by the Illinois Supreme Court in 2021, but by that point "Empire" had ended, and Smollett never got to return. A 2025 Netflix documentary about the hoax saw Smollett maintaining his position that the hate crime was not staged, albeit without as much evidence to support his claim as there was to support the opposite.

After breaking out on "Orange Is the New Black," Ruby Rose was given her shot at a leading role when she was cast as Kate Kane, a.k.a. Batwoman, in The CW's "Batwoman," part of the network's superhero universe that included "Arrow" and "The Flash." However, she only performed on the show for one year before leaving ahead of its second season, in what became a major PR crisis for Warner Bros. after Rose alleged unsafe working conditions on the set of "Batwoman." 

As Rose claimed, she suffered a back injury while on set that forced her to go into surgery, but she was not given permission to take an extended break from filming to recover. The CW ended up refocusing the show around a new character, Ryan Wilder (Javicia Leslie), while Rose's role was recast with actress Wallis Day. Warner Bros. alleged that the problem was actually Rose's behavior, but Rose backed up her claims with email evidence. Either way, "Batwoman" didn't stay on the air for too long after Rose's exit, ending in 2022 after two additional seasons.

Jay Johnston's not as big a star as other names on this list, but you've likely seen him appear frequently in television shows like "Better Call Saul," "Community," and "Arrested Development." Johnston's a veteran of the Second City touring company from Chicago, and was a cast member on sketch comedy shows like "Mr. Show with Bob & David" and "The Sarah Silverman Program." Notably, he was also the voice of Jimmy Pesto — the business rival of Bob Belcher (H. Jon Benjamin) — on the Fox adult animated series "Bob's Burgers."

However, the comedy world was shocked when it was revealed that Johnston was present at the January 6 Capitol riots in 2021, in which thousands of Donald Trump's supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol in protest of Joe Biden's Electoral College win. Shortly after being identified by the FBI via online scouting, Johnston was fired from "Bob's Burgers," and was later arrested in 2023 and sentenced to one year in prison for obstructing officers during civil disorder. Earlier this year, he was pardoned by President Donald Trump along with more than a thousand other insurrectionists from the Capitol riots, but it's unlikely we'll hear him as Jimmy Pesto again.

Gina Carano rose to prominence as the face of women's MMA, competing from 2006 to 2009 before, like many other martial artists, transitioning to a career in Hollywood. She had already appeared in high-profile movies like "Deadpool" and "Fast & Furious 6" prior to being cast as mercenary Cara Dune on Disney+'s "The Mandalorian," a recurring role she held throughout the show's first two seasons. Although Carano's role was a favorite among fans, she quickly spent all her goodwill with the "Star Wars" community after a series of poorly thought-out social media posts. 

Among these statements by Carano were anti-trans sentiment and a comparison between COVID-19 mask mandates and the Holocaust. She was swiftly fired by Lucasfilm and dropped by her talent agency, with rumors suggesting the social media controversy had been the final straw for Disney executives. Carano reached a settlement with Disney after a lawsuit over her "Mandalorian" firing, alleging it was wrongful discrimination against her, with X CEO Elon Musk funding her case, given that the controversy played out on his app. Nevertheless, Cara Dune has yet to reappear on "The Mandalorian" and likely never will.

Although Jeff Garlin has had a very successful career in entertainment between "Curb Your Enthusiasm," "Arrested Development," and "Wall-E," his nine-season run on ABC's "The Goldbergs" was cut short due to his own on-set behavior. "The Goldbergs" was a nostalgic look back at 1980s suburbia, with Garlin playing family patriarch Murray, whose attitude toward the family bordered on apathy and conservatism. During production of the ninth season, it was decided by ABC that Garlin would not return to the series amidst an HR investigation into inappropriate on-set behavior.

Rumors alleged that Garlin was verbally abusive to castmates on set, and that many cast and crew members were uncomfortable with his use of blue humor and foul language. The remainder of his scenes in Season 9 were compiled together using outtakes and CGI, before the character was killed off-screen ahead of the show's 10th and final season.

At only 23 years old, Barbie Ferreira rose to fame in HBO's drama series "Euphoria," an ensemble show about high schoolers grappling with sexual identity, drug addiction, and the internet. Her character, Kat, was a standout of the first season, battling deeply relatable issues of body image and early sexual experiences. However, the character's reduced screen time in the second season was clocked by many fans, so it ended up not being a surprise that Ferreira chose to exit the series rather than reprise her role for the upcoming third season. 

As Ferreira alleged, she had disagreements with "Euphoria" creator Sam Levinson over the direction of her character. Although Ferreira has since stated that claims there was any drama were overblown by the media, her absence will still be a huge albatross on the future of "Euphoria."

Taylor Sheridan's Paramount series "Yellowstone" was one of television's biggest successes in the past few years, despite garnering criticism for its depiction of Native Americans. At the center of it all was Kevin Costner, who played the patriarch of the Dutton family, who owns the largest cattle ranch in Montana. "Yellowstone" has since spawned a media franchise that includes several spin-offs, but the mothership itself faced a huge shake-up with the sudden departure of Costner in the middle of its final season.

Costner's exit came after a series of disagreements between him and Sheridan regarding the show's shooting schedule, which conflicted with Costner's own Western project, "Horizon: An American Saga," an episodic theatrical event written by, directed by, and starring the actor. Though "Yellowstone" promised a great ride for fans in its series finale, recent rumors suggested that those disagreements were much more tense than originally stated, potentially marring Costner's reputation in Hollywood behind the scenes.