Timothy Busfield
WFSB 3/YouTube Screenshot

Timothy Busfield lost his role in the romantic comedy, 'You Deserve Each Other,' with Amazon MGM editing out his scenes, following several child sexual abuse accusations, which put the film's release on hold.

The actor's character, Bernie, father to Meghann Fahy's character, Naomi, has been completely removed.

Accusations and legal proceedings

Legal troubles of Busfield started on January 9, with a warrant of arrest issued in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

'I had to get a lawyer," Busfield told TMZ. "Saturday I got in the car, drove 2,000 miles to Albuquerque. I'm gonna confront these lies. They're horrible,' he continued.

The prosecution is based on the investigation of the accusations of sexually misbehaving with young children at the time he was working on Fox's 'The Cleaning Lady.'

'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,' the actor added.

The police suspect that Busfield had improper acts with two of the male minors at the location. The actor later turned himself in to the police and was kept at the Metro Detention Centre. He has two charges of criminal sexual contact with a minor and child abuse, with potential prison sentences.

Another case was made besides the first one, where the charges were made against a teenage girl.

According to the court report, Busfield is being charged with groping her during an audition in B Street Theatre, Sacramento, a few years back. These charges come to complement a prior history of previous charges, such as a settlement involving an episode that took place on the set of 'Little Big League' in 1994, wherein a 17-year-old extra alleged that they were abused.

One more woman claimed that he groped her on a date in 2012, but he was not charged.

Effects on projects and career of Busfield moving forward

After the recent allegations, professional associations of Busfield have reacted rather rapidly. His talent agent, Innovative Artists, terminated his relationship with the actor, which was an indication of an apparent position against his supposed behaviour.

A number of projects that include Busfield are being influenced; NBC has cancelled an episode of its series 'Law and Order: SVU,' on which he was a guest star, which was to be aired later this month.

This deletion of the episode shows that the actor was being further pushed away by the company on the continued project during the controversy.

There are also major edits being done in the film 'You Deserve Each Other.' The character of Busfield has been cut in the final version and the producers chosen to make post-production changes to cut his scenes.

The movie is an adaptation of a novel by Sarah Hogle that was published in 2020 and directed by Marc Silverstein and Abby Kohn. It involves Penn Badgley and Fahy as a couple whose relationship goes down the drain right before their wedding, only to fall back in love.

Court hearing today

The next hearing of Busfield will be today, where a pretrial detention hearing will be held to decide whether the man will be kept in custody awaiting trial.

His surrender earlier this month has led to the actor being in detention. Busfield could serve several years in gaol in case of the conviction of the charges to which the maximum sentences can be six years in case of criminal sexual contacts per case and three years in case of child abuse.

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