Jorja Fox is leaving CSI - CSI

CSI’s Jorja Fox — who was briefly fired from the show in 2004 during an
ugly contract dispute with CBS — is expected to leave the top-rated drama
before year’s end. A source close to the show confirms that Fox, whose
contract expired last season, has agreed to appear in six or seven episodes
this year before leaving the show that made her a household name and turned
her into an unwilling poster child for greedy TV actors

Back in 2004, CBS offered what it described as ”fair and equitable raises”
to the CSI ensemble. To avoid last-minute sick-outs, like the ones that
happened with the Everybody Loves Raymond cast earlier that year, the network
then required many of the supporting actors, including Fox and George Eads,
to promise in writing that they would show up on time when production resumed
on the fifth season. Supposedly, everyone signed, but Fox opted to send her
agreement in the mail and CBS received it late. On July 14 of that year, she
was fired from her $100K job.(Eads was also briefly fired for not showing up on time.)

"I sat on it because I kept thinking there was still talking to be done,” Fox
told EW back in 2004. ”I wouldn’t say I was in denial, but I thought, ‘
This can be fixed.’ When it hit the press late Thursday, that’s when I
started to worry it was really happening. I didn’t know whether I was supposed to accept the fact I’d lost my job or whether I was
supposed to be figuring out a way to get it back. It was all very confusing
and fast.”

With production delayed one week, CBS started to explore contingency plans,
like hiring new actors and having Fox’s character disappear into rehab after
she was picked up for driving drunk in season four. Ultimately, no auditions
were needed: CBS decided to let the letter incident go, and Fox and Eads was
hired back — albeit at the same pay they earned before the negotiations.



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