October 13, 2025 • 21 mins
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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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
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
(00:22):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
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
(00:57):
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.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
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
(01:32):
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
(01:53):
the timing was weird.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
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
(02:16):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
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.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
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
(03:18):
face out there in a post that she put out
there alongside her mother saying mom is here.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Things are. We can get into that in just a bit.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
But she claims, at least from what we've gathered, that
there was an alleged sexual assault.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Near David del Rio's trailer.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
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.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
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
(04:04):
whatever the results of this investigation showed, they made the
determination that they did not want him on the premises
a moment longer.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
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
(04:35):
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.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
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,
(05:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
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,
(05:58):
is that an.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I stopped immediately just reading. Is that enough that folks
know that she is identifying herself as.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
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
(06:28):
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
(06:52):
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.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
To our family.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
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,
(07:34):
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.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Those all disappeared when she unfollowed her.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
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.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
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.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Strong sexual assaults.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Assault is the absolute term that's being used, and that
is a very strong word.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
What I'm trying to figure out is, and I think
a lot of folks are doing the same thing.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
For CBS to.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
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
(09:11):
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
(09:33):
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.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
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
(10:04):
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.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
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
(10:38):
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.
(11:00):
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
(11:21):
this first season, what in.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
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
(11:45):
what is a hit TV show, which are few and
far between these days.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
That's right, they're.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
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,
(12:20):
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
(12:41):
young first year.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
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
(13:05):
cast members have been a central part of making it
a hit success.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So this is a shocking, and.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
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,
(13:36):
his career, and certainly for.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
The young lady who spoke out.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
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.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
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
(14:09):
in because if we're not right, then this guy's been.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Destroyed, destroyed. Who's desroyed?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
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
(14:39):
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
(15:01):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
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
(15:36):
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
(15:58):
something like this, when something in his name being out
there now and this could be one hundred percent t.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
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
(16:27):
mention of something like this, because this wasn't Leah Lewis
saying that it was an unwanted sexual advance.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It wasn't that this was unwanted sexual.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
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.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What would how could that possibly happen?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
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.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
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?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
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,
(17:57):
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.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
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
(18:36):
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.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I struggle with that premise because I don't think that
look obvious.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
As a woman.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
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
(19:22):
to believe everybody if they make an accusation. I think
there are plenty of unfortunate situations.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Where there are ulterior motives.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
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
(19:51):
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.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
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.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Okay, so you don't want an overcorrection.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
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
(20:37):
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.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But I don't think we can go.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So far as to say, let's automatically give her the
benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I don't think we can do that.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
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
(21:16):
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.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Report on it.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
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
(21:47):
and in front of it. I made me Roebuck alongside TJ.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Holmes. Thanks for being with us, everybody,
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
(00:22):
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.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
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
(00:57):
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.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
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
(01:32):
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
(01:53):
the timing was weird.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
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
(02:16):
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.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
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.
Speaker 2 (02:57):
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
(03:18):
face out there in a post that she put out
there alongside her mother saying mom is here.
Speaker 3 (03:24):
Things are. We can get into that in just a bit.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
But she claims, at least from what we've gathered, that
there was an alleged sexual assault.
Speaker 3 (03:32):
Near David del Rio's trailer.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
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.
Speaker 1 (03:43):
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
(04:04):
whatever the results of this investigation showed, they made the
determination that they did not want him on the premises
a moment longer.
Speaker 2 (04:12):
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
(04:35):
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.
Speaker 1 (04:52):
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,
(05:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
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,
(05:58):
is that an.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
I stopped immediately just reading. Is that enough that folks
know that she is identifying herself as.
Speaker 2 (06:07):
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
(06:28):
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
(06:52):
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.
Speaker 3 (07:12):
To our family.
Speaker 2 (07:14):
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,
(07:34):
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.
Speaker 3 (07:44):
Those all disappeared when she unfollowed her.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
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.
Speaker 1 (08:00):
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.
Speaker 3 (08:15):
Strong sexual assaults.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
Assault is the absolute term that's being used, and that
is a very strong word.
Speaker 1 (08:23):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
What I'm trying to figure out is, and I think
a lot of folks are doing the same thing.
Speaker 3 (08:47):
For CBS to.
Speaker 2 (08:48):
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
(09:11):
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
(09:33):
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.
Speaker 1 (09:44):
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
(10:04):
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.
Speaker 2 (10:16):
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
(10:38):
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.
(11:00):
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
(11:21):
this first season, what in.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
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
(11:45):
what is a hit TV show, which are few and
far between these days.
Speaker 3 (11:50):
That's right, they're.
Speaker 1 (11:51):
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,
(12:20):
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
(12:41):
young first year.
Speaker 2 (12:42):
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
(13:05):
cast members have been a central part of making it
a hit success.
Speaker 3 (13:09):
So this is a shocking, and.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
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,
(13:36):
his career, and certainly for.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
The young lady who spoke out.
Speaker 2 (13:40):
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.
Speaker 1 (13:48):
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
(14:09):
in because if we're not right, then this guy's been.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
Destroyed, destroyed. Who's desroyed?
Speaker 2 (14:17):
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
(14:39):
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
(15:01):
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.
Speaker 1 (15:14):
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
(15:36):
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
(15:58):
something like this, when something in his name being out
there now and this could be one hundred percent t.
Speaker 2 (16:05):
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
(16:27):
mention of something like this, because this wasn't Leah Lewis
saying that it was an unwanted sexual advance.
Speaker 3 (16:33):
It wasn't that this was unwanted sexual.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
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.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
What would how could that possibly happen?
Speaker 2 (16:54):
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.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
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?
Speaker 3 (17:25):
Oh my goodness.
Speaker 1 (17:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (17:36):
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,
(17:57):
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.
Speaker 1 (18:16):
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
(18:36):
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.
Speaker 2 (18:56):
I struggle with that premise because I don't think that
look obvious.
Speaker 3 (19:00):
As a woman.
Speaker 2 (19:02):
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
(19:22):
to believe everybody if they make an accusation. I think
there are plenty of unfortunate situations.
Speaker 3 (19:29):
Where there are ulterior motives.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
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
(19:51):
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.
Speaker 1 (19:58):
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.
Speaker 3 (20:15):
Okay, so you don't want an overcorrection.
Speaker 2 (20:17):
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
(20:37):
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.
Speaker 3 (20:49):
But I don't think we can go.
Speaker 2 (20:50):
So far as to say, let's automatically give her the
benefit of the doubt.
Speaker 3 (20:54):
I don't think we can do that.
Speaker 2 (20:55):
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
(21:16):
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.
Speaker 3 (21:25):
Report on it.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
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
(21:47):
and in front of it. I made me Roebuck alongside TJ.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
Holmes. Thanks for being with us, everybody,
Hosts And Creators
Amy Robach
T.J. Holmes
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