PBS Fires Fred Willard For X-Rated Act

Poor Fred Willard…not only has he had to deal with the embarrassment of getting caught in a porn theater at all, but to also be arrested for lewd conduct. Well, it’s only gotten worse, because Mr. Willard has been fired from his job with PBS.

E! is reporting that the network made a statement Thursday about the incident and their decision to let Willard go, saying that he will no longer be the narrator of the new Market Warrior series.

Kindly, the adult Tiki Theatre manager made a statement in Willard’s defense (just the person he needs defending him!). Kazi Jafor says he didn’t see the 78-year-old actor do anything wrong. He stated, “Police officers arrested him suspiciously. I did not see anything.”

The theater manager reveals that police stop by to check the establishment at different intervals, sometimes once a week, and sometimes as often as three to four times a day. I’m sure, speaking with no puns intended, Jafor admits, “Business has gone down. Customers do not come. They are too nervous to come here.” Ha! Yeah, I’m totally immature.

Jafor says he had never seen Willard in there before Wednesday night, and says he didn’t recognize him and hadn’t seen any of his movies before. He says Willard bought a ticket which would allow him to see three movies, including Follow Me 2, a parody of The Client List, and Step Dad.

In this day and age, I’m surprised there are still such things as “adult theaters”, what with the Internet and all. Sure, not everybody has the Internet, with the ability to look up just about whatever x-rated thing they want, but hey there’s still DVDs, books, magazines etc. I just think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion. Geez, the guy is in his 70s and did not harm anyone, so firing him was really out of line. And those police…I’m pretty sure there is actually some real crime out there on the streets of Hollywood that they could tend to.

Side note: TMZ is saying Willard was quoted Thursday as saying the whole thing was a “big misunderstanding”, and that “it didn’t happen.” He also mentioned that “a strange situation” led him to the theater. Hmmm, could it be research for an upcoming role he has in the movie Yank? No, seriously, that’s the name of it!