Despite his heavy involvement in one of the most successful shows on television, the allegations from his fellow cast and crew mates were Lost on showrunner Damon Lindelof. In an excerpt from the upcoming book, Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood (out June 6), author Maureen Ryan interviewed various actors, writers, and crew members from the series on the alleged toxicity behind the scenes. Actor Harold Perrineau claimed that he was fired by Lindelof because he accused him of being racist numerous times. While recounting this story to co-workers during the production of Lost, Lindelof allegedly told them that he “fired his ass.” Lindelof told Ryan in 2022 that it broke his “heart that that was Harold’s experience” and did not recall saying that, despite Ryan speaking to multiple witnesses. “And I’ll just cede that the events that you’re describing happened 17 years ago, and I don’t know why anybody would make that up about me,” he shared.
However, this wasn’t the only incident Lindelof didn’t remember; there were others in the piece that he seemingly forgot as well, like a “hostile” writers’ room and reported causal racism on set. “I’m telling you, I swear, I have no recollection of those specific things,” he told the Burn It Down author. “And that’s not me saying that they didn’t happen. I’m just saying that it’s literally baffling my brain — that they did happen and that I bore witness to them or that I said them. To think that they came out of my mouth or the mouths of people that I still consider friends is just not computing.”
