“That you are uncomfortable makes me laugh”: the toxic backstage of Lost revealed


Vanity Fair has exclusively procured the pages of a yet to be released behind-the-scenes book on the “Lost” series, and the showrunners are facing heavy accusations, which they categorically deny.

Warning: the following article contains SPOILERS on the “Lost, the disappeared” series.

Lost showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse are facing serious accusations of racism and toxicity that allegedly took place during the production of the famous series.

The testimonials come from a book to be released on June 6 in the United States written by Maureen Ryan and entitled burn it down. Vanity Fair has obtained several pages of the book currently on pre-order and looking back on the visibly lackluster behind the scenes of the six seasons of the show, which aired from 2004 to 2010.

It appears from these extracts that the scriptwriters were asked to focus on Locke, Kate, Jack and Sawyer and according to one of the authors of the show, the instructions were: “nobody cares about the other characters. Give them a few scenes on another beach.”

One of the first to notice these decisions is Harold Perrineau, who plays Michael, little Walt’s father: “It became very clear that I was the Black. Daniel [Dae Kim] was the Asian. Then there was Jack, Kate and Sawyer.” The actor then alerts a producer: “I don’t have to be [le personnage principal]I don’t have to have the most episodes – but I would like a middle ground.”

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Harold PerrineauMichael

To which the producer replies that we easily identify with Jack, Kate and Sawyer. Implying that Perrineau, black-skinned, will never seduce the majority of the public. For Perrineau, this is an affront, and the plot proposed for his character (Michael finding himself questioning Sawyer about his past, without ever mentioning Walt, who has just been kidnapped) obviously does not suit him:

I can’t be a person who doesn’t care about missing Black children yet, even in the context of fiction. This encourages the narrative that no one cares about black children, even black fathers.

Some time after his discussion with the producer, Carlton Cuse announces to him that his character will not return beyond season 2. Damon Lindelof then comments amused in the Writer’s Room: “He called me a racist, I kicked him out in the ass.”

Author on season 3, Monica Owusu-Breen remembers: “Everyone laughed [quand Lindelof a dit cela], there was so much racist stuff, and then laughter. (…) It was horrible.”


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kate

“All I wanted was to write cool episodes for a cool show, but that was impossible on this team”she continues. “(…) Partly because they didn’t like their characters of color. When you come home and cry for an hour before you can see your kids to release all the stress you’ve been holding back, you don’t go write anything good after that.”

What was happening on Lost was clearly beyond the bounds, writes Vanity Fair. There was a “coterie” of people who found it amusing if a comment or joke was “shocking”. Everything was said with a sarcastic tone [du style] ‘me it makes me laugh’ and ‘that you are uncomfortable makes me laugh’.

According to witnesses interviewed, these attitudes camouflaged an atmosphere of inappropriate remarks and abuse, as well as comments about ethnicity and gender that crossed the line.


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When writing about the death of Mr. Eko’s character, Cuse reportedly said, “I want to hang him from the tallest tree. Oh if only we could just cut his dick off and shove it down his throat.”

At the time, Lindelof apparently held the rhetoric that a screenwriter who wasn’t unhappy was a screenwriter who didn’t care about his job.

One of them, Javier Grillo-Marxuach, will leave the writing team after season 2 because of this toxic and racist environment. An anonymous source adds:


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“After the end of the second season, after the congratulations, I could see that some people were tired of being there (…)”. It was believed that Lindelof and Cuse had the power to hire and fire for no reason… “And they used it.”

Cuse & Lindelof’s response

Damon Lindelof gave an interview included in the book in which he responds to these accusations: “My level of total inexperience in managing or being the boss, my role in having to create an atmosphere of creative danger, risk taking, while ensuring safety and comfort in this process…J failed.”


JLPPA / Bestimage

Cuse & Lindelof in 2009 in full “Lostmania”

“Harold is totally right to point all of that out. It’s one of the things I really have deep regrets for almost 20 years later. Harold had legitimate and professional concerns about his character and the significant fact that Michael and Walt – and Rose – were the only black characters on the show.”

“I tell you, and I swear to you, I have no recollection of those specific words”he comments about the quotes attributed to Cusa or himself. “Which doesn’t mean they weren’t spoken, it baffles me – (…) that me or some of my friends could have said that just doesn’t make sense.”

Cuse published a press release addressing the testimonies of the writers and the comments they would have heard in the writing room:

“I deeply regret that anyone involved with Lost has had to hear them. They are insensitive, inappropriate and offensive. Hearing them breaks my heart. Knowing that people have had such bad experiences upsets me enormously. (…) No one never complained to me or ABC Studios. I wish I had known. I would have done what I could to change that.”



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