Fred Willard Update: Fired from PBS, Charges to be Dropped?
As we reported yesterday actor and comedian Fred Willard was arrested on Wednesday night on charges of lewd conduct after allegedly being caught masturbating in a porn theater. Now, we have a few updates to the story.
First of all, Fred has since been fired by PBS from a gig hosting the show Market Warriors, a spinoff of Antiques Roadshow. All of his episodes had already been recorded, and will be re-narrated by Mark Wahlberg.
“Given the unfortunate news reported today, effective immediately, Fred Willard no longer will be involved with the Market Warriors series,” reported PBS in a statement.
Seriously? The show is a freakin’ spinoff of Antiques Roadshow, which is possibly the most boring show of all time. My grandma used to make me watch it as a punishment. You’d think a little added publicity, like being narrated by a comedian who was just arrested for masturbating in a porn theater for example, would be a boon for a show like that. Ah, well.
Secondly, it looks like Fred may not be charged with lewd conduct after all. According to his lawyer, he did nothing wrong.
“With all due respect to the individual officer, our belief [is] that Fred did nothing in any violation of any law. We will be working vigorously to clear his name in this matter,” said his lawyer in a statement.
According to TMZ, the law in California is such that masturbating in public is only illegal if it occurs where people who “might be offended” can see it. As such, his lawyer may be able to make a pretty good case for Fred.
