The West Wing actor Timothy Busfield has been edited out of the upcoming film You Deserve Each Other, after he was hit with child abuse allegations in January. The filmmaker was set to star in the rom-com alongside Meghann Fahy, Penn Badgley, Justin Long and Natalie Morales, yet will no longer appear in the Amazon MGM flick, according to TMZ.
Tim was cast as Meghann's character's father, Bernie, yet he will be edited out altogether rather than recast, as shooting for the film has already wrapped. The movie is based on Sarah Hogle's 2020 book and follows an engaged couple, Naomi and Nick, who are preparing for their upcoming wedding, yet have fallen out of love.
The duo then engages in a war of sabotage and pranks as they try to make the other admit defeat and break up with them, yet end up falling in love all over again. You Deserve Each Other does not currently have a release date.
Timothy was charged with two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child abuse after he turned himself in to authorities in New Mexico on January 13. The charges relate to a claim made by the mother of 11-year-old twins that Timothy allegedly groomed and assaulted them when they joined the cast of FOX's The Cleaning Lady, which he directed in season two.
He faced another assault claim days later when the district attorney's office for Bernalillo County accused Timothy of inappropriately touching a then 16-year-old girl when she auditioned for a role at the B Street Theater in California, the theater which he founded in 1986.
Timothy denied the allegations of abuse in a video sent to TMZ after his arrest, and maintained his innocence.
"I'm gonna confront these lies. They're horrible," he said. "They're all lies, and I did not do anything to those little boys, and I'm gonna fight it. I'm gonna fight it with a great team, and I'm gonna be exonerated, I know I am, because this is all so wrong and all lies."
"So hang in there, and hopefully I'm out real soon and back to work. I love everybody for supporting me, thank you," he concluded.
A statement given to us from Stanton 'Larry' Stein, who is Timothy's civil attorney, reads: "This morning, Tim voluntarily appeared before New Mexico authorities after traveling across the country to confront these false and deeply troubling allegations. He is innocent and is determined to clear his name."
In the days after Timothy was arrested, he was dropped by his agency, Innovative Artists, and an episode of Law & Order: SVU, which he was set to appear in on January 22, was pulled. The 68-year-old will return to court on Tuesday, January 20, for a pretrial detention hearing that will determine whether he must remain in custody or not before the trial begins.
His wife, Little House on the Prairie star Melissa Gilbert, made an emotional plea to the judge to keep her husband "safe" while he was in custody. "I only want this extraordinary man safe and whole. So, I will close by asking you to please, please, take care of my sweet husband," she wrote in the letter of support.
"As he is my protector, I am his, but I cannot protect him now, and I think that, more than anything else, is what is truly breaking my heart. I am relying on you to protect him for me."