‘Too woke': Star rages after being cut from ‘And Just Like That'
The comedian, 53, spoke to Entertainment Weekly at San Diego Comic-Con over the weekend about why he wasn't asked to reprise his role as Jackie Nee, Carrie's (Sarah Jessica Parker) podcast co-host, on the third season of the show.
'Some of the woke elements of the show, they got rid of, and I think I was a part of that,' Lee stated.
'I think Sara [Ramirez] didn't come back and some other people,' he added. 'They tried to put minorities in, and — I don't know. I never saw the show.'
Lee departed AJLT between Seasons 2 and 3, as did Ramirez, who played Miranda's (Cynthia Nixon) non-binary love interest Che Díaz, and Karen Pittman, who played Dr. Nya Wallace.
Season 2 wrapped up Carrie's podcast storyline, which allowed the show to write off Lee and Ramirez.
'Number one, I don't even know why they asked,' Lee told EW about being cast in the HBO Max series. 'And I was super scared to do it. Because it wasn't my brand, really. You know what I mean? But I did it. I walked through the fear.'
Lee added that getting to work with Parker, 60, was a highlight of the experience.
'Sarah Jessica Parker is the nicest person I've ever met. She made me feel so at ease,' he shared. 'I like everyone on there. It was fun. I never have bad blood with anybody. You know what I mean? I am nice. I show up on time.'
Lee previously revealed that working on the Sex and the City reboot pushed him to get sober.
'I was in Hawaii and I was blackout drunk and my agent called and said, 'They need you in New York,'' he recalled on Rachel Bilson's Broad Ideas podcast in 2023.
'This is one of the reasons why I'm sober … On the plane, I thought, 'I'm just gonna get sh*t faced,' so I was in a blackout when we landed in New York.'
Lee said that he learned he was expected to film AJLT that day when he realised that his driver wasn't taking him to his hotel.
'I remember going and being so high and drunk,' Lee revealed.
'When I was reading the script, I couldn't even understand what the f*ck it was even saying. It was a nightmare. I remember thinking, 'This is never going to happen again — I have to get sober.''
New episodes of And Just Like That stream Thursdays at 11am AEST on HBO Max.
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