Lena Waithe regrets how she handled misconduct claims against former The Chi star Jason Mitchell.
Waithe called into The Breakfast Club on Thursday where she told the three co-hosts she trusted her show’s human resources department to handle the issue, but regrets not stepping in directly when former co-star Tiffany Boone accused Mitchell of misconduct.
“My biggest regret is that I wish I would have said forget that and not trusted anybody to do my job. I wish I would have reached out to Tiffany [Boone] on my own and been like, ‘Yo, what’s going on? What can I do?'”
Boone starred opposite Mitchell as Jerrika on the hit Showtime series, before she left the show due to Mitchell’s sexual harassment. Working conditions onset with the Straight Outta Compton star were allegedly so bad that the star’s fiancé, actor Marque Richardson, came to set when she shot scenes with Mitchell.
Other actresses on the series have reportedly had issues with Mitchell as well, and showrunner Ayanna Floyd recently told reporters that “ultimately, everyone was well aware of Jason’s behavior and his multiple HR cases.”
“I trusted somebody else to do my job,” Waithe continued. “And the truth is can’t nobody do my job like me.”
Waithe speaking out comes after Mitchell was fired from The Chi and was dropped by his manager, agent along with a forthcoming role in Netflix’s Desperado. Mitchell was also cut from the list of nominations at the MTV Movie & TV Awards being held next month.