Vincent Kartheiser does not appear to have had an especially good time on the set of HBO Max’s Titans. That’s per a new Deadline report, which states that the former Mad Men star—who played the series’ take on Jonathan Crane, the Scarecrow, on the third season of the series—was the subject of multiple complaints, and at least two formal investigations, during his conduct on the series’ set. Specifically, Kartheiser was cited for “disruptive, juvenile behavior and inappropriate comments,” which, yeah, is the sort of thing that might lead one to note that, while you can take the man out of Pete Campbell, you can’t always take the Pete Campbell out of the man.
The Deadline report also notes that, despite Kartheiser’s status as a regular on the show—they’re doing a whole Hannibal Lector thing this season, where Scarecrow helps the Gotham cops with his skills as a psychologist in exchange for copious amounts of weed (seriously)—he’s been absent from interviews promoting the series. Meanwhile, the first investigation into his actions (“centered on verbal comments and outbursts”) apparently led to a verbal reprimand from the studio, while a second, stemming from behavior that happened closer to the end of filming, led to Warner Bros. Television assigning Kartheiser a representative on set in Toronto to monitor his behavior.
Kartheiser, for what it’s worth, “denies the allegations,” although it’s not clear, exactly, which exact allegations his spokesperson is denying. (Deadline notes that there were other complaints made, separate from the ones Kartheiser was reprimanded for, but that they couldn’t be corroborated during the investigations, which were conducted remotely.) In his camp’s telling, “Warner Bros investigated this matter and made clear to Mr. Kartheiser its expectations for behavior on the set, and he agreed to comply with their directives.”
Per Deadline, Kartheiser’s gig as Scarecrow was already planned to be a single-season thing, which we can’t imagine anyone involved is regretting right now.