By now you've probably heard about actor and comedian Fred Willard's arrest earlier this week on suspicion of lewd conduct.
Willard, the former star of Fernwood 2 Night and Roseanne and a member of director Christopher Guest's repertory company (with movies like Waiting for Guffman, Best in Show and A Mighty Wind to his credit), was arrested on the evening of July 18th on charges of lewd conduct inside the Tiki Theater, a porn theater in Los Angeles.
Now, the L.A. Times is reporting that Willard was arrested once before (all the way back in 1990) on charges of lewd conduct, but no further details were provided by the Los Angeles prosecutor.
Willard's attorney is currently denying any charges of wrongdoing. The owner of the Tiki Theater, Kazi Jafor, has also come to actor's defense and claimed he didn't see Willard doing anything wrong.
PBS, who recently hired Willard to narrate their Market Warriors series, fired the actor on Thursday in response to the arrest. Network president Paula Kerger stated at the Television Critics Association press tour on Saturday that the reason for the firing is to "avoid a distraction."
Everyone still remembers a similar incident with Paul Reubens -- aka Pee-Wee Herman -- back in 1991, which created a scandal and tanked Reubens' career for most of the '90s. No telling if this arrest will follow Willard (who is 72) around for the remainder of his career in the same way.
Photo by Michael Buckner/Getty Images
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