Oct. 13, 2025
“Matlock” Season Premier Airs Amid Sexual Assault Allegations
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RSS Feed The highest rated new television show last season, has been making headlines for all the wrong reasons. “Matlock” star David Del Rio has been fired after his co-star Leah Lewis brought sexual assault allegations against him last week. In fact, the very day she made the allegations, Del Rio was escorted off the set and will now have to be written off of the show. And while both Del Rio’s wife and Leah Lewis have reacted on social media, the accused actor has remained silent.
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00:00:02
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Monday, October thirteenth, and last tonight was the season premiere of the hit show Mattlock. It's back for a second season, just days after one of its stars was fired. Welcome everybody to this episode of Amy and TJ. Talking here about a story that's still developing, still confusing, quite frankly for it was. But one of the lead ensemble actors in this show is out over what appears to be sexual harassment or sexual assault.
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Claims. Yes, David del Rio. He's thirty eight years old. He plays Billy Martinez on Mattlock. A big part of the show actually, and part of the show coming from season one into season two was a cliffhanger with one of his love interests and a baby. And so yes, he's been a central part of this highly successful series on CBS. And to hear a word late last week that he was fired and escorted off the set the same day his co star made allegations of a sexual assault. She claims happened a few days prior.
00:01:11
Speaker 1: So, And you were just speaking on him being central to this cast and central to the plot, and yeah, sure enough, I mean that just happened to be the case, but he did. That storyline you talk about continued yesterday in the season premiere of this show. So the word had gotten out, of course, had spread that he had been fired and what it was about. And then to have this hit show and it is, folks, a hit over there at CBS. To have it on the air just days after and him playing a central role, and we're having to focus on the person that who is being accused of only at this point something along the lines of sexual assault. It was just the weird and the timing was weird.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: It is bizarre, and I have not seen and we did a little bit of extra research on this, but I have not seen any indication or any talk about criminal charges in this. This was solely a situation that the CBS studios made their call pretty quickly. That's the thing that I think has thrown a lot of folks reading this is that this has been a This was a quick decision. There wasn't time for They said there was an investigation, but I don't know how long that investigation could have or would have gone on. We don't have any official word from CBS regarding this instance. We've actually seen a lot of it unfortunately play it on social media, and so that's how people are connecting a lot of these dots.
00:02:35
Speaker 1: So the dots, and I don't think we've said who we're talking about here yet, but she has been identified some and again this is a weird part of the story for me, at least, both self identified if you will, affirmed if you will, in a post. But a co star on the show is the one who is now allegedly accused him of some kind of sexual.
00:02:57
Speaker 2: Misconduct, twenty eight year old Leah Lewis. She did put something out on social media that basically named herself as the alleged victim in this, and so yes, so many news outlets that would not have ever reported her name, including us, said okay, hey, we're gonna say who it is, because she basically put her name out there and her face out there in a post that she put out there alongside her mother saying mom is here.
00:03:24
Speaker 3: Things are. We can get into that in just a bit.
00:03:26
Speaker 2: But she claims, at least from what we've gathered, that there was an alleged sexual assault.
00:03:32
Speaker 3: Near David del Rio's trailer.
00:03:35
Speaker 2: This is according to her, and she claims this allegedly happened on September twenty sixth, and we just found out about it late last week.
00:03:43
Speaker 1: However, Yeah, they got their results, if you will, of their investigation, and the show has been shooting. They had been at work. They do have a break now, and they will be on break from shooting at least the rest of this month and the month of November that was pre scheduled. That his pre plan has nothing to do with this incident. But yeah, they were working and whatever the results of this investigation showed, they made the determination that they did not want him on the premises a moment longer.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Wow. And so yes, we understand that David Del Rio's character Billy will be written out of the show at least yesterday's episode. Yes, he had a big life decision to make who he was going to be with the baby is on the way, So they'll have to figure out a plot that doesn't involve him being a part of it. Well, they'll just have to Maybe he is he heads for the hills and leaves a note behind. But short of that, I can't imagine what else other than him dying. But then they'd have to show him dying or so. This will be a little bit of a pickle that these writers will have to write themselves out of or into another version of a different storyline where he just disappears.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: I guess they have time now. I mean it's a good thing they have the break that they do have. Again, that's not first and foremost what happens to a show. But I with the post from Leah were talking about Leah Lewis, the posts that we are going to read the entire text of there's someone else, not del Rio himself, with someone else in his camp who's been speaking kind of sorta on his behalf. And I was surprised by this. I was confused by this, and I'm curious to hear what you make of it. But his wife put out some posts that can only be interpreted one way. She's pissed at Leah Lewis.
00:05:34
Speaker 2: Oh, outraged and yes, so what happened. Leah Lewis put up an Instagram story which she didn't have to with her mom. She and her mom smiling next to her, saying mom is here. We're moving forward in love and strength. I'm in good hands. Thank you to everybody for any kind of support and care. Truly, we're moving forward in strength keyword strength. Please let that be the takeaway now, is that an.
00:05:58
Speaker 1: I stopped immediately just reading. Is that enough that folks know that she is identifying herself as.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: The alleged that in addition to the people on the set who were of course sources saying and talking about what was going on. So certainly that was the confirmation that news outlets needed to know that she, in fact was the person who reported an alleged sexual assault. And so yes, I think one hundred percent that was basically the confirmation that folks needed to go ahead and go forward with having her be the named alleged victim. But then David del Rio's wife, Catherine del Rio, who was also an actress and a chef, she pretty quickly then took that Instagram story post by Leah, zoomed in on Leah's face and put it on her story this is the most disturbing human being I have ever met. She deleted that one a short while later, but then put up another picture, this time a photo of herself with her her own mom, And then she used the same words that were in Leah Lewis's post, and so she just switched it up a little bit. She wrote, mom is here we are moving forward in love and strength after what Leah did.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: To our family.
00:07:14
Speaker 2: So she outed her, she mocked her, and she let everyone know that she dislikes her. Is the most disturbing human being I have ever met. Look, these were all people who knew each other, worked with each other. You know how spouses are with folks on the set. So there were also news outlets they always loved to report, and people unfollow each other. They all unfollowed one another. Leah apparently had put you know when they were kinder better times, had left comments on her post.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: Those all disappeared when she unfollowed her.
00:07:46
Speaker 2: So clearly this all points to just a difficult situation and people airing out their grievances or at least trying to elicit support using social media.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: How long before the police show up? I mean if if what's being described, what being talked to them? Again, it's being which word I want to get the right word? Sexual misconduct, sexual assault? Sexual. It's not harassment. This was a.
00:08:15
Speaker 3: Strong sexual assaults.
00:08:17
Speaker 2: Assault is the absolute term that's being used, and that is a very strong word.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: Yes, that can mean a lot of things, but I think any any phase of it, it's still a criminal act. This is not just a you know, passing a note or telling a dirty joke type of stuff in an office that could get you reprimanded. This is criminal stuff if we're talking about a sexual assault.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: What I'm trying to figure out is, and I think a lot of folks are doing the same thing.
00:08:47
Speaker 3: For CBS to.
00:08:48
Speaker 2: Be that sure within hours of Leah Lewis the actors bringing this accusation to them, for them to be able to say that they conducted an internal investigation and it only took a couple of hours for them to then fire and escort him off the lot. They say this happened allegedly near his trailers, So were their cameras? Is their surveillance video? Is there something irrefutable? Because so often the most difficult crimes, one of the most difficult crimes to actually bring charges on and actually convict someone of, is that very thing, Because it's a he said, she said thing. Usually there are only two people around and both people say two different things. It's very hard to prove something like this. So that's why I'm a little shaken in a sense that this could be determined so quickly that CBS would feel confident in their decision to make this call.
00:09:44
Speaker 1: I mean, they have a different standard than of course criminal court. Right, they can do what they want to do, but they also have to balance make sure they don't get sued, I suppose. But could you get sued by leaving somebody on the lot that others deem a danger to his coworkers because you knew of a sexual AsSalt allegation and you did nothing. I mean, it just it happened so quickly. Look, the investigation, yes, took days, but once they got it, it didn't seem like there was much time for And I assume they had to have talked to him as a part of the investigation.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: Yes, I would think that he would have had to have had his say. But the interesting thing is if you start to look at these two they've been playing opposite one another now for this full season, and up until this moment, they spoke very highly about each other on several occasions because their characters had a strong bond on the show, which you'll see throughout I guess for the rest of this season while they're still together. But just listening and reading some of the things that Leah Lewis has said about David del Rio recently David del Rio, who plays Billy, who plays kind of like my counterpart. I've learned so much about comedy from him, she said in September of last year. He comes from a theater background, so it's like we're always dancing and twinkling around this. She said that he is one of the largest personalities and skill sets that I've ever been able to work with, So it's been playtime. So she talked about how much fun they've had on the set together, and she said that it's been incredible working with him the way that he carries himself on set. So yeah, she said glowing things about him. Just one year ago, leading up to this first season, what in.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: The world happened? And again, this is just an allegation at this point, but CBS at least has taken it seriously enough that they have taken pretty decisive action, so robes that you have to take it at that point being more than just a rumor more than there was something that made them take off a central character on what is a hit TV show, which are few and far between these days.
00:11:50
Speaker 3: That's right, they're.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Messing with some magic they have over there with folks stay with us. Don't know if you've been watching Matt Locke, but we're going to explain just how big of a show show and big of a hit this show is and has even made one of our favorite actresses a record setter. All right, folks, we continue on this Monday, October thirteenth. Got a bit of a mess going on over there at CBS on one of their hit shows. One of the stars of Matt Locke has been fired, fired a few days ago after what is a sexual assault allegation by a co star, Leah Lewis, who also plays on the show. They both are they're the they're the young kind of hotheads on the show. Yes, the young first year.
00:12:42
Speaker 2: First year associates, and they actually play best friends. So the two of them have been starring opposite each other two As you pointed out before we went to the break, TV magic chemistry like that doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's fun to watch. And so this show has become a powerhouse, large part obviously because of Kathy Bates, the amazing star of the show, but certainly the other cast members have been a central part of making it a hit success.
00:13:09
Speaker 3: So this is a shocking, and.
00:13:14
Speaker 2: I to say unpleasant headline is just an understatement because it's actually so incredibly sad for the show, for the cast, for I'm even thinking of del Rio's family. He just welcomed a second baby, girl this past year, so he and his wife have two young daughters. The ones a toddler, one's an infant, and this is just gutting for him personally, his career, and certainly for.
00:13:38
Speaker 3: The young lady who spoke out.
00:13:40
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody loses in a situation like this, and it's without any real information. There's a big vacuum where people are trying to guess what happened.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: I mean, right at this point. We always we always write robes. We have to air on the side of believing the victim, the alleged victim. We are supposed to, we are told to, and we have to do we not have to do that. But then the butt comes in because if we're not right, then this guy's been.
00:14:14
Speaker 3: Destroyed, destroyed. Who's desroyed?
00:14:17
Speaker 2: I was looking at his wife's Instagram and she actually talked about postpartum depression in twenty twenty four. She's had two babies right in a row, but saying the twenty twenty four was the hardest year of her life. I was reading this post where she talked about how her husband David has been working fourteen hour days at Mattlock, They've been a part. She's been struggling pregnant and with a toddler and dealing with postpartum depression, and how she was thinking folks in the industry for helping lift her up and get her through this, And then I could only imagine she thought twenty twenty four was the worst year of her life. Now enter this moment now where her husband's being accused of sexual assault by a fellow cast member, and his career will likely be ruined if any of that is true, or if any of it's proven to be. And frankly, at this point, even with a hint of something like that hanging over your head, who's gonna touch you, who's gonna hire you? I mean, this is this is an allegation now these days where when you make it, it doesn't really ever go away, does it.
00:15:14
Speaker 1: Then? How do you, ever, how can we ever presume innocence in this case? By presuming innocence of this man, we are casting doubt on how much we believe this woman. Isn't that just naturally what you do in something like this, If we are reserving judgment of this man, that means we are reserving judgment of her story, and I guess we do. We just let it play out, and I guess that's what we should do. But the nature of sexual assault allegations, it's just different, and so many women are not and have been have not been believed to where I don't know these are These are when it's something like this, when something in his name being out there now and this could be one hundred percent t.
00:16:05
Speaker 2: Be true, but it's also a man with, like I said, two young girls, a wife who vehemently is defending him, and you know absolutely you can tell by her tone and her choices on social media that she is on his side in every way, shape or form. But yes, it's now this incredibly divisive situation where yes, just the mention of something like this, because this wasn't Leah Lewis saying that it was an unwanted sexual advance.
00:16:33
Speaker 3: It wasn't that this was unwanted sexual.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: Pressure or some sort of flirtation that she didn't want. She the actual phrase is sexual assault. Now that's like you're imagining this happening on set outside of a trailer.
00:16:50
Speaker 3: What would how could that possibly happen?
00:16:54
Speaker 2: But people will probably tell you I've never been on a set that this is commonplace. I don't know, but certainly a lot of questions. And as you pointed out before we went to the break, this is a hit show at a time where you don't have a lot of hit shows. TV and hit shows aren't going hand in hand in the same sentence.
00:17:12
Speaker 1: Oh, this is a powerhouse. To hear that the show was averaging sixteen million viewers per episode last season. Now that's across television and streaming, but sixteen million viewers per anybody would take those numbers?
00:17:25
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness.
00:17:26
Speaker 1: Yes, So it was the number one new show on TV last year, and I think it ended up ranking I think number two or number three overall. It is a powerhouse, of course, behind Kathy.
00:17:36
Speaker 2: Bits, Kathy Bates and so Yes, the second season has been highly anticipated, highly regarded. Yes, she got an Emmy nomination for her role in this. So look, on one hand, I imagine they probably had a lot more eyes on their show than maybe even before. This might have been a record breaker for their brand new season two. I mean, imagine all of this is happening just as the first episode of this second season aired on Sunday night. This all hit Thursday of last week. It's not the kind of publicity you want. It's certainly not the kind of attention you want. But I imagine more eyes than ever before. We're on that show last night.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: And what the And for both of them, they're young actors and this is the biggest role they've had in their career. This is their big career moment, and this is happening here now. Again. It's just these are very, very difficult stories. And if Leah lewis I mean thoughts with her for whatever may have happened, But I mean she has to be don't we have to start there? Is that that simple? Just she has to be believed? Do you just have to start there? Do we always start there? It's just we have to we have to. And I don't know.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: I struggle with that premise because I don't think that look obvious.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: As a woman.
00:19:02
Speaker 2: I've got two daughters, You've got daughters, like we understand, and I've been in the entertainment business, and you want to make sure that we give women and men who accuse anyone of any sort of misconduct a platform. We want to give them an opportunity to be believed. But I don't think you can just say that you have to believe everybody if they make an accusation. I think there are plenty of unfortunate situations.
00:19:29
Speaker 3: Where there are ulterior motives.
00:19:31
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that that is the case in this one, but I don't think I'm not somebody who believes that we automatically have to believe everybody who accuses somebody of something like this. I understand it's gone on for too long that women have been completely dismissed and completely disregarded and never believed. Now that's not okay either, But I don't think you can go to the overcorrection mode of always believing the women and always assuming the worst of the man. I just I don't think you can can go to that extreme either.
00:19:58
Speaker 1: Okay, maybe I'm saying the wrong. We just have I guess maybe we're open to stories of women coming forward, and that's a big part of it. You have to be open to those stories and because too often I guess it was dismissed and not listen to at all, and the folks just sided with the man, and that was in the story.
00:20:15
Speaker 3: Okay, so you don't want an overcorrection.
00:20:17
Speaker 2: We don't want to go back to those days either where women are afraid to speak up or afraid of not just losing it. For a lot of women who have been in this position, it's not even about losing your credibility or losing the job you have. It's about losing your career for being that woman, for being that woman who points the finger at someone else, who's difficult to work with, who can't take a joke, like all of those things, I understand are a part of the reason why we need to give women a safer space to speak up and to know that she can be believed and if she's telling the truth, will be believed.
00:20:49
Speaker 3: But I don't think we can go.
00:20:50
Speaker 2: So far as to say, let's automatically give her the benefit of the doubt.
00:20:54
Speaker 3: I don't think we can do that.
00:20:55
Speaker 2: I think about her, and I feel for her, but I also think about him, and again, his wife and his daughters, and just his opportunity to say something. He has not spoken at all, nor has anyone officially on his behalf. We've just obviously seen the I would say, rage coming from his wife, which I can understand on a personal level. But she did take both of those posts down. They no longer are up. But it doesn't matter these days. If you head it up for thirty seconds or thirty minutes, someone's going to screen grab it and get it and.
00:21:25
Speaker 3: Report on it.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: And so we know that back and forth has happened, and hopefully we'll get some more information in the days to come, but in the meantime, we just wanted to jump on and talk about this unfolding situation with a major, major television show these days. Metlock premiere on Sunday night. We'll see what happens as that plot thickens off camera and in front of it. I made me Roebuck alongside TJ.
00:21:50
Speaker 3: Holmes. Thanks for being with us, everybody,
Speaker 1: Hey there, folks. It is Monday, October thirteenth, and last tonight was the season premiere of the hit show Mattlock. It's back for a second season, just days after one of its stars was fired. Welcome everybody to this episode of Amy and TJ. Talking here about a story that's still developing, still confusing, quite frankly for it was. But one of the lead ensemble actors in this show is out over what appears to be sexual harassment or sexual assault.
00:00:34
Speaker 2: Claims. Yes, David del Rio. He's thirty eight years old. He plays Billy Martinez on Mattlock. A big part of the show actually, and part of the show coming from season one into season two was a cliffhanger with one of his love interests and a baby. And so yes, he's been a central part of this highly successful series on CBS. And to hear a word late last week that he was fired and escorted off the set the same day his co star made allegations of a sexual assault. She claims happened a few days prior.
00:01:11
Speaker 1: So, And you were just speaking on him being central to this cast and central to the plot, and yeah, sure enough, I mean that just happened to be the case, but he did. That storyline you talk about continued yesterday in the season premiere of this show. So the word had gotten out, of course, had spread that he had been fired and what it was about. And then to have this hit show and it is, folks, a hit over there at CBS. To have it on the air just days after and him playing a central role, and we're having to focus on the person that who is being accused of only at this point something along the lines of sexual assault. It was just the weird and the timing was weird.
00:01:54
Speaker 2: It is bizarre, and I have not seen and we did a little bit of extra research on this, but I have not seen any indication or any talk about criminal charges in this. This was solely a situation that the CBS studios made their call pretty quickly. That's the thing that I think has thrown a lot of folks reading this is that this has been a This was a quick decision. There wasn't time for They said there was an investigation, but I don't know how long that investigation could have or would have gone on. We don't have any official word from CBS regarding this instance. We've actually seen a lot of it unfortunately play it on social media, and so that's how people are connecting a lot of these dots.
00:02:35
Speaker 1: So the dots, and I don't think we've said who we're talking about here yet, but she has been identified some and again this is a weird part of the story for me, at least, both self identified if you will, affirmed if you will, in a post. But a co star on the show is the one who is now allegedly accused him of some kind of sexual.
00:02:57
Speaker 2: Misconduct, twenty eight year old Leah Lewis. She did put something out on social media that basically named herself as the alleged victim in this, and so yes, so many news outlets that would not have ever reported her name, including us, said okay, hey, we're gonna say who it is, because she basically put her name out there and her face out there in a post that she put out there alongside her mother saying mom is here.
00:03:24
Speaker 3: Things are. We can get into that in just a bit.
00:03:26
Speaker 2: But she claims, at least from what we've gathered, that there was an alleged sexual assault.
00:03:32
Speaker 3: Near David del Rio's trailer.
00:03:35
Speaker 2: This is according to her, and she claims this allegedly happened on September twenty sixth, and we just found out about it late last week.
00:03:43
Speaker 1: However, Yeah, they got their results, if you will, of their investigation, and the show has been shooting. They had been at work. They do have a break now, and they will be on break from shooting at least the rest of this month and the month of November that was pre scheduled. That his pre plan has nothing to do with this incident. But yeah, they were working and whatever the results of this investigation showed, they made the determination that they did not want him on the premises a moment longer.
00:04:12
Speaker 2: Wow. And so yes, we understand that David Del Rio's character Billy will be written out of the show at least yesterday's episode. Yes, he had a big life decision to make who he was going to be with the baby is on the way, So they'll have to figure out a plot that doesn't involve him being a part of it. Well, they'll just have to Maybe he is he heads for the hills and leaves a note behind. But short of that, I can't imagine what else other than him dying. But then they'd have to show him dying or so. This will be a little bit of a pickle that these writers will have to write themselves out of or into another version of a different storyline where he just disappears.
00:04:52
Speaker 1: I guess they have time now. I mean it's a good thing they have the break that they do have. Again, that's not first and foremost what happens to a show. But I with the post from Leah were talking about Leah Lewis, the posts that we are going to read the entire text of there's someone else, not del Rio himself, with someone else in his camp who's been speaking kind of sorta on his behalf. And I was surprised by this. I was confused by this, and I'm curious to hear what you make of it. But his wife put out some posts that can only be interpreted one way. She's pissed at Leah Lewis.
00:05:34
Speaker 2: Oh, outraged and yes, so what happened. Leah Lewis put up an Instagram story which she didn't have to with her mom. She and her mom smiling next to her, saying mom is here. We're moving forward in love and strength. I'm in good hands. Thank you to everybody for any kind of support and care. Truly, we're moving forward in strength keyword strength. Please let that be the takeaway now, is that an.
00:05:58
Speaker 1: I stopped immediately just reading. Is that enough that folks know that she is identifying herself as.
00:06:07
Speaker 2: The alleged that in addition to the people on the set who were of course sources saying and talking about what was going on. So certainly that was the confirmation that news outlets needed to know that she, in fact was the person who reported an alleged sexual assault. And so yes, I think one hundred percent that was basically the confirmation that folks needed to go ahead and go forward with having her be the named alleged victim. But then David del Rio's wife, Catherine del Rio, who was also an actress and a chef, she pretty quickly then took that Instagram story post by Leah, zoomed in on Leah's face and put it on her story this is the most disturbing human being I have ever met. She deleted that one a short while later, but then put up another picture, this time a photo of herself with her her own mom, And then she used the same words that were in Leah Lewis's post, and so she just switched it up a little bit. She wrote, mom is here we are moving forward in love and strength after what Leah did.
00:07:12
Speaker 3: To our family.
00:07:14
Speaker 2: So she outed her, she mocked her, and she let everyone know that she dislikes her. Is the most disturbing human being I have ever met. Look, these were all people who knew each other, worked with each other. You know how spouses are with folks on the set. So there were also news outlets they always loved to report, and people unfollow each other. They all unfollowed one another. Leah apparently had put you know when they were kinder better times, had left comments on her post.
00:07:44
Speaker 3: Those all disappeared when she unfollowed her.
00:07:46
Speaker 2: So clearly this all points to just a difficult situation and people airing out their grievances or at least trying to elicit support using social media.
00:08:00
Speaker 1: How long before the police show up? I mean if if what's being described, what being talked to them? Again, it's being which word I want to get the right word? Sexual misconduct, sexual assault? Sexual. It's not harassment. This was a.
00:08:15
Speaker 3: Strong sexual assaults.
00:08:17
Speaker 2: Assault is the absolute term that's being used, and that is a very strong word.
00:08:23
Speaker 1: Yes, that can mean a lot of things, but I think any any phase of it, it's still a criminal act. This is not just a you know, passing a note or telling a dirty joke type of stuff in an office that could get you reprimanded. This is criminal stuff if we're talking about a sexual assault.
00:08:43
Speaker 2: What I'm trying to figure out is, and I think a lot of folks are doing the same thing.
00:08:47
Speaker 3: For CBS to.
00:08:48
Speaker 2: Be that sure within hours of Leah Lewis the actors bringing this accusation to them, for them to be able to say that they conducted an internal investigation and it only took a couple of hours for them to then fire and escort him off the lot. They say this happened allegedly near his trailers, So were their cameras? Is their surveillance video? Is there something irrefutable? Because so often the most difficult crimes, one of the most difficult crimes to actually bring charges on and actually convict someone of, is that very thing, Because it's a he said, she said thing. Usually there are only two people around and both people say two different things. It's very hard to prove something like this. So that's why I'm a little shaken in a sense that this could be determined so quickly that CBS would feel confident in their decision to make this call.
00:09:44
Speaker 1: I mean, they have a different standard than of course criminal court. Right, they can do what they want to do, but they also have to balance make sure they don't get sued, I suppose. But could you get sued by leaving somebody on the lot that others deem a danger to his coworkers because you knew of a sexual AsSalt allegation and you did nothing. I mean, it just it happened so quickly. Look, the investigation, yes, took days, but once they got it, it didn't seem like there was much time for And I assume they had to have talked to him as a part of the investigation.
00:10:16
Speaker 2: Yes, I would think that he would have had to have had his say. But the interesting thing is if you start to look at these two they've been playing opposite one another now for this full season, and up until this moment, they spoke very highly about each other on several occasions because their characters had a strong bond on the show, which you'll see throughout I guess for the rest of this season while they're still together. But just listening and reading some of the things that Leah Lewis has said about David del Rio recently David del Rio, who plays Billy, who plays kind of like my counterpart. I've learned so much about comedy from him, she said in September of last year. He comes from a theater background, so it's like we're always dancing and twinkling around this. She said that he is one of the largest personalities and skill sets that I've ever been able to work with, So it's been playtime. So she talked about how much fun they've had on the set together, and she said that it's been incredible working with him the way that he carries himself on set. So yeah, she said glowing things about him. Just one year ago, leading up to this first season, what in.
00:11:22
Speaker 1: The world happened? And again, this is just an allegation at this point, but CBS at least has taken it seriously enough that they have taken pretty decisive action, so robes that you have to take it at that point being more than just a rumor more than there was something that made them take off a central character on what is a hit TV show, which are few and far between these days.
00:11:50
Speaker 3: That's right, they're.
00:11:51
Speaker 1: Messing with some magic they have over there with folks stay with us. Don't know if you've been watching Matt Locke, but we're going to explain just how big of a show show and big of a hit this show is and has even made one of our favorite actresses a record setter. All right, folks, we continue on this Monday, October thirteenth. Got a bit of a mess going on over there at CBS on one of their hit shows. One of the stars of Matt Locke has been fired, fired a few days ago after what is a sexual assault allegation by a co star, Leah Lewis, who also plays on the show. They both are they're the they're the young kind of hotheads on the show. Yes, the young first year.
00:12:42
Speaker 2: First year associates, and they actually play best friends. So the two of them have been starring opposite each other two As you pointed out before we went to the break, TV magic chemistry like that doesn't happen often, but when it does, it's fun to watch. And so this show has become a powerhouse, large part obviously because of Kathy Bates, the amazing star of the show, but certainly the other cast members have been a central part of making it a hit success.
00:13:09
Speaker 3: So this is a shocking, and.
00:13:14
Speaker 2: I to say unpleasant headline is just an understatement because it's actually so incredibly sad for the show, for the cast, for I'm even thinking of del Rio's family. He just welcomed a second baby, girl this past year, so he and his wife have two young daughters. The ones a toddler, one's an infant, and this is just gutting for him personally, his career, and certainly for.
00:13:38
Speaker 3: The young lady who spoke out.
00:13:40
Speaker 2: I mean, everybody loses in a situation like this, and it's without any real information. There's a big vacuum where people are trying to guess what happened.
00:13:48
Speaker 1: I mean, right at this point. We always we always write robes. We have to air on the side of believing the victim, the alleged victim. We are supposed to, we are told to, and we have to do we not have to do that. But then the butt comes in because if we're not right, then this guy's been.
00:14:14
Speaker 3: Destroyed, destroyed. Who's desroyed?
00:14:17
Speaker 2: I was looking at his wife's Instagram and she actually talked about postpartum depression in twenty twenty four. She's had two babies right in a row, but saying the twenty twenty four was the hardest year of her life. I was reading this post where she talked about how her husband David has been working fourteen hour days at Mattlock, They've been a part. She's been struggling pregnant and with a toddler and dealing with postpartum depression, and how she was thinking folks in the industry for helping lift her up and get her through this, And then I could only imagine she thought twenty twenty four was the worst year of her life. Now enter this moment now where her husband's being accused of sexual assault by a fellow cast member, and his career will likely be ruined if any of that is true, or if any of it's proven to be. And frankly, at this point, even with a hint of something like that hanging over your head, who's gonna touch you, who's gonna hire you? I mean, this is this is an allegation now these days where when you make it, it doesn't really ever go away, does it.
00:15:14
Speaker 1: Then? How do you, ever, how can we ever presume innocence in this case? By presuming innocence of this man, we are casting doubt on how much we believe this woman. Isn't that just naturally what you do in something like this, If we are reserving judgment of this man, that means we are reserving judgment of her story, and I guess we do. We just let it play out, and I guess that's what we should do. But the nature of sexual assault allegations, it's just different, and so many women are not and have been have not been believed to where I don't know these are These are when it's something like this, when something in his name being out there now and this could be one hundred percent t.
00:16:05
Speaker 2: Be true, but it's also a man with, like I said, two young girls, a wife who vehemently is defending him, and you know absolutely you can tell by her tone and her choices on social media that she is on his side in every way, shape or form. But yes, it's now this incredibly divisive situation where yes, just the mention of something like this, because this wasn't Leah Lewis saying that it was an unwanted sexual advance.
00:16:33
Speaker 3: It wasn't that this was unwanted sexual.
00:16:36
Speaker 2: Pressure or some sort of flirtation that she didn't want. She the actual phrase is sexual assault. Now that's like you're imagining this happening on set outside of a trailer.
00:16:50
Speaker 3: What would how could that possibly happen?
00:16:54
Speaker 2: But people will probably tell you I've never been on a set that this is commonplace. I don't know, but certainly a lot of questions. And as you pointed out before we went to the break, this is a hit show at a time where you don't have a lot of hit shows. TV and hit shows aren't going hand in hand in the same sentence.
00:17:12
Speaker 1: Oh, this is a powerhouse. To hear that the show was averaging sixteen million viewers per episode last season. Now that's across television and streaming, but sixteen million viewers per anybody would take those numbers?
00:17:25
Speaker 3: Oh my goodness.
00:17:26
Speaker 1: Yes, So it was the number one new show on TV last year, and I think it ended up ranking I think number two or number three overall. It is a powerhouse, of course, behind Kathy.
00:17:36
Speaker 2: Bits, Kathy Bates and so Yes, the second season has been highly anticipated, highly regarded. Yes, she got an Emmy nomination for her role in this. So look, on one hand, I imagine they probably had a lot more eyes on their show than maybe even before. This might have been a record breaker for their brand new season two. I mean, imagine all of this is happening just as the first episode of this second season aired on Sunday night. This all hit Thursday of last week. It's not the kind of publicity you want. It's certainly not the kind of attention you want. But I imagine more eyes than ever before. We're on that show last night.
00:18:16
Speaker 1: And what the And for both of them, they're young actors and this is the biggest role they've had in their career. This is their big career moment, and this is happening here now. Again. It's just these are very, very difficult stories. And if Leah lewis I mean thoughts with her for whatever may have happened, But I mean she has to be don't we have to start there? Is that that simple? Just she has to be believed? Do you just have to start there? Do we always start there? It's just we have to we have to. And I don't know.
00:18:56
Speaker 2: I struggle with that premise because I don't think that look obvious.
00:19:00
Speaker 3: As a woman.
00:19:02
Speaker 2: I've got two daughters, You've got daughters, like we understand, and I've been in the entertainment business, and you want to make sure that we give women and men who accuse anyone of any sort of misconduct a platform. We want to give them an opportunity to be believed. But I don't think you can just say that you have to believe everybody if they make an accusation. I think there are plenty of unfortunate situations.
00:19:29
Speaker 3: Where there are ulterior motives.
00:19:31
Speaker 2: I'm not saying that that is the case in this one, but I don't think I'm not somebody who believes that we automatically have to believe everybody who accuses somebody of something like this. I understand it's gone on for too long that women have been completely dismissed and completely disregarded and never believed. Now that's not okay either, But I don't think you can go to the overcorrection mode of always believing the women and always assuming the worst of the man. I just I don't think you can can go to that extreme either.
00:19:58
Speaker 1: Okay, maybe I'm saying the wrong. We just have I guess maybe we're open to stories of women coming forward, and that's a big part of it. You have to be open to those stories and because too often I guess it was dismissed and not listen to at all, and the folks just sided with the man, and that was in the story.
00:20:15
Speaker 3: Okay, so you don't want an overcorrection.
00:20:17
Speaker 2: We don't want to go back to those days either where women are afraid to speak up or afraid of not just losing it. For a lot of women who have been in this position, it's not even about losing your credibility or losing the job you have. It's about losing your career for being that woman, for being that woman who points the finger at someone else, who's difficult to work with, who can't take a joke, like all of those things, I understand are a part of the reason why we need to give women a safer space to speak up and to know that she can be believed and if she's telling the truth, will be believed.
00:20:49
Speaker 3: But I don't think we can go.
00:20:50
Speaker 2: So far as to say, let's automatically give her the benefit of the doubt.
00:20:54
Speaker 3: I don't think we can do that.
00:20:55
Speaker 2: I think about her, and I feel for her, but I also think about him, and again, his wife and his daughters, and just his opportunity to say something. He has not spoken at all, nor has anyone officially on his behalf. We've just obviously seen the I would say, rage coming from his wife, which I can understand on a personal level. But she did take both of those posts down. They no longer are up. But it doesn't matter these days. If you head it up for thirty seconds or thirty minutes, someone's going to screen grab it and get it and.
00:21:25
Speaker 3: Report on it.
00:21:26
Speaker 2: And so we know that back and forth has happened, and hopefully we'll get some more information in the days to come, but in the meantime, we just wanted to jump on and talk about this unfolding situation with a major, major television show these days. Metlock premiere on Sunday night. We'll see what happens as that plot thickens off camera and in front of it. I made me Roebuck alongside TJ.
00:21:50
Speaker 3: Holmes. Thanks for being with us, everybody,