Lost EP Damon Lindelof admits failing as leader amid damning Vanity Fair exposé

A new book has shed some light on what went down behind the scenes of ABC’s smash series Lost, with executive producers Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse direct targets of what has been described as a “damaging and toxic” culture.

The reports stem from Maureen Ryan’s forthcoming book Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood, excerpts of which Vanity Fair published on Tuesday. According to the book, Lost was flooded with toxic behavior from core crew members, who made certain thoughts about race and sex clear to others.

Monica Owusu-Breen, who only co-wrote one episode of the third season and described herself as “half-Spanish, half Ghanaian,” said toxic and racist behavior from the likes of Lindelof and Cuse while making Lost slowed down her output. “All I wanted to do was write some really cool episodes of a cool show. That was an impossibility on that staff…There was no way to navigate that situation. Part of it was they really didn’t like their characters of color. When you have to go home and cry for an hour before you can see your kids because you have to excise all the stress you’ve been holding in, you’re not going to write anything good after that.”

One of the more hot-button issues that came up was handling the death of Mr. Eko, played by Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje. According to Owusu-Breen, Cuse wanted to give the character a brutal send-off, saying, “I want to hang him from the highest tree,” conjuring the image of lynching. “God, if we could only cut his d*ck off and shove it down his throat.” Further, Akinnuoye-Agbaje himself had been the subject of what has been called “hazing”, with one production member saying others should hide their wallets so he doesn’t steal it.

On the toxic Lost behavior, Lindelof told Ryan 2021, “My level of fundamental inexperience as a manager and a boss, my role as someone who was supposed to model a climate of creative danger and risk-taking but provide safety and comfort inside of the creative process—I failed in that endeavor.” Cuse previously told Ryan, “It breaks my heart to hear it. It’s deeply upsetting to know that there were people who had such bad experiences…I did not know people were feeling that way. No one ever complained to me, nor am I aware that anybody complained to ABC Studios. I wish I had known. I would have done what I could to make changes.”

But Lost isn’t the only subject of Ryan’s book, which offers “an exposé of patterns of harassment and bias in Hollywood, the grassroots reforms under way, and the labor and activist revolutions that recent scandals have ignited.” There, too, are findings from the productions of Saturday Night Live, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Goldbergs, and more. The Goldbergs star Jeff Garlin ended up being killed off on the show after multiple allegations of misconduct.

What is your take on the reports on Lost hosting toxic behavior behind the scenes? Give us your thoughts in the comments section below.