"The Rookie" star Afton Williamson says that she won't be returning for the ABC show's second season, claiming she was sexually harassed by a recurring guest star and was bullied by the production's hair department head.
According to Williamson's account in a Sunday Instagram post, she received "racially charged inappropriate comments from the hair departments and bullying from executive producers."
The crime drama series aired its first season's final episode in April and is due to return for Season 2 on Sept. 29.
Williamson, 34, added in her post that, "During the Season, it continued along with Sexual Harassment from a recurring guest star and the racist commentary & bullying from the Hair Dept. Head escalated into Sexual Assault at our Wrap party."
The actress stated that "The Hair Dept. Head was fired ONLY after the sexual assault and NOT for an entire year of outward racism/racially charged language and bullying behavior in and out of the Hair and Makeup trailer."
Williamson reported the harassment, "outward racism" and "bullying behavior" to the show's top executive but the claims were not investigated, she said.
"HR protocol was never adhered to following the above reports given by me to my showrunner/EP (Alexi Hawley)," Williamson alleges in her Instagram post, "and an investigation was never issued for any of my claims."
Williamson said she decided to leave the production after being told in a meeting involving showrunner Hawley, two other producers, her agent and a SAG-AFTRA union representative that "everything was handled," only to learn an investigation was not conducted.
