Timothy Busfield, the Emmy-winning actor best known for his roles on The West Wing, Thirtysomething, and Revenge of the Nerds, told an Albuquerque, New Mexico, grand jury that he can no longer find work because he’s supposedly been “cancelled” after being indicted on child sex offenses. USA Today, which obtained the actor’s testimony, reports that he maintained his innocence when making his remarks over the course of two hours.
“My career’s done,” he said. “I’m cancelled. I’ll never work again just based on people’s fear that I would do this again and, and even if it wasn’t true, I’m done. I’ve lost TV shows, a movie they’ve digitally replaced me from. My agency fired me. I’m done. This is not about me or a pity thing.”
In February, the grand jury indicted Busfield on four counts of criminal sexual contact of a child. The charges were related to accusations that the actor, 69, had abused two child actors, twin boys, on the set of The Cleaning Lady. The alleged inappropriate touching included unwanted tickling, and one boy claimed Busfield touched his genitals over his clothing in a secluded area on set. The indictment specified that the charges related only to one of the two boys. As with all indictments, Busfield is presumed innocent until a jury verdict.
During his testimony, Busfield said he hoped the indictment would not affect wife Melissa Gilbert’s career, and he claimed that the boys’ parents had supposedly reported him to police as revenge for cutting them from The Cleaning Lady’s cast and depriving the family of $30,000 per episode. “My children, grandchildren, everybody in my life is done because of these false allegations for money and for revenge,” he told the 12-person grand jury. “These two criminals [the boys’ parents] have ruined me. And my wife and her business, I’m not going to break that.” (Busfield’s description of the boys’ parents as criminals relates to arrests they’d experienced in the past.)
Gilbert told Good Morning America in April that she is “100 percent confident [Busfield] will be exonerated,” but added, “there is a practical side to this, and we do have to be prepared for all scenarios.”
Busfield claimed that he was never alone with the boys, as various crew, including a cinematographer and hair and makeup staff were nearby. “I have never been inappropriate in any way, physically, sexually, in any way with a child, prepubescent little boy,” Busfield told the jury members. “I’ve never, ever been inappropriate like that.” He alleged that the parents had coached the kids to make accusations against him.
In November 2024, University of New Mexico Hospital reported concerns that the boys had been groomed, when their mother brought them in claiming they’d been sexually abused. The hospital found no evidence of abuse, though, and the boys told police at the time they’d not been abused. In September, though, they told therapists they had been abused, which led to Busfield’s arrest.
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Albuquerque Police officer Marvin Brown presented testimony from 10 interviews during the hearing. Three people said they saw the boys unsupervised, and Brown told the grand jury that Busfield at first said he didn’t touch the boys, but later said he’d tickled them. “He would tickle them and get them pumped up for the next set,” the detective said.
“I probably may have touched them, never inappropriately or sexually,” Busfield told the grand jury. “The dad would say, ‘Go hug Uncle Tim,’ so I would touch them then. I never initiated that. I don’t remember ever kissing either one of those boys. Did I ever, uh, have my arms around those boys? Absolutely. Pictures? Absolutely. Uh, that’s what you do. Did I, during the picture when the parents say smile, give them a tickle under the ribs like you would your own kids? Yes. Did they ever touch them on their bodies inappropriately? Never, ever once.”
Brown told the grand jury he believed the boys’ claims of abuse were organic and not coached. An internal investigation by Warner Bros. was unable to substantiate the boys’ claims; the studio submitted 87 letters of support on Busfield’s behalf when a judge determined whether he could be released from custody after his initial arrest. He was released in January.
On June 18, Busfield’s lawyers asked the court to throw out the indictment, claiming prosecutors did not present a fair and impartial case to the grand jury and that they did not explain the law accurately. A judge will review Busfield’s lawyers’ request on Aug. 25. A trial could begin next May.
From Rolling Stone US
