“Lost” Actors and Writers Describe the Set As Cruel, Toxic, and Racist
Maureen Ryan’s new book titled “Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood,” which shines a light on racism and toxic behavior in Hollywood has also taken aim at the producers of Lost, the hit ABC drama.
Ryan, who also worked on the show, revealed that actors, writers, and even behind-the-scene workers have made alarming claims about the abuse of power, power tripping, and racism being done on the show.
Lost was an iconic show that aired on ABC between 2004 and 2010, becoming incredibly popular over the years. The series was an instant success! The main plot revolves around the lives of plane crash survivors as they try to survive and co-exist on a mysterious and remote island. At its peak, the show brought in an average of 16 million audiences per episode. In total, Lost had six series before it bid goodbye in 2010.
A person who worked on the show described the environment as a venue for hazing. They described it as being transported back to middle school, where every day is another day to experience cruelty.
Monica Owusu-Breen, who worked as both a supervising producer and writer for the show’s third season, described her experience as “And I’ve never heard that much racist commentary in one room in my career.”
She talked about how when Harold Perrineau, who portrayed Michael Dawson in the first two seasons, brought up his concerns about the arc of his character to Carlton Cuse, the producer fired him from the show. Lindelof even went so far as to address Perrineau in front of the writers, saying the actor “called me racist, so I fired [him].”
Owusu-Breen acknowledged to Ryan how much racist talk there was on set. “There was so much shit, and so much racist shit, and then laughter. It was ugly. I was like, ‘I don’t know if they’re perceiving this as a joke or if they mean it.’ But it wasn’t funny. Saying that was horrible.”
Owasu-Breen noted, “All I wanted to do was write some really cool episodes of a cool show. That was an impossibility on that staff” and “Part of it was they really didn’t like their characters of color.”
She further shared that she would start leaving the room when the racist and offensive talking is too much to bear, and she would just come back once they stopped talking nasty about people of color.
Owasu-Breen also recalled an instance where a writer was in the process of adopting an Asian child, and another writer of the show exclaimed, “No grandparent wants a slanty-eyed grandchild.”
Another horrifying instance was experienced by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje, who played Mr. Eko on the show. He shared that while his picture was on the writers’ room table, someone spoke up in warning to secure their wallet before Adewale stole it.
In another appalling incident, when Owusu-Breen and others were riding in a van and there was a question about their luggage, one writer said, “Let the schvartze take it,” using the Yiddish word for a Black person.
Owusu-Breen further revealed that everyone on the set knew that the environment was toxic, but Lost was a hit, so no one really addressed these problems.
In response to this backlash, Damon explained to Ryan that his “level of fundamental inexperience as a manager and a boss, my role as someone who was supposed to model a climate of creative danger and risk-taking but provide safety and comfort inside of the creative process—I failed in that endeavor.”
He also mentioned that he did not remember actor Harold Perrineau being fired because he called him a racist. But added, “I’ll just cede that the events you’re describing happened 17 years ago, and I don’t know why anybody would make that up about me.”
As for all the other accusations, Damon claimed he was equally appalled and shocked when he heard about them. Carlton also denied being part and leader of the toxic and racist environment.
