The pending arrest of “thirtysomething” star Timothy Busfield is already causing a ripple effect.
Busfield — who’s under an arrest warrant for sexual abuse of two little boys on a TV show set — was supposed to play judge Thursday on “Law and Order SVU.” Now the episode has been pulled and will be replaced by the one that’s banked. We may never see the episode called “Corrosive.”
The ironies are incredible considering “SVU” is about sexual predators. Busfield is now alleged to be one.
At the same time, Busfield’s wife, Melissa Gilbert, was supposed to host a breast cancer research fundraiser in New York on Saturday, March 14th. The press releases went out before the news about Busfield.
But now Gilbert’s name has been removed from the ThinkPink.com website that still includes musical performances by Melissa Errico, Bernadette Peters, Christine Ebersole, and Denyce Graves.
As for the case, it all came to light in late 2024 when a University of New Mexico Hospital doctor contacted the Albuquerque Police Department regarding a “sexual abuse investigation” involving twin child actors who are brothers born in 2014.
The inappropriate behavior allegedly occurred on the New Mexico set of the Fox/Warner Bros TV drama series, “The Cleaning Lady.” Busfield is executive producer and director.
Busfield, 68, is innocent unless proven guilty, of course. But the mere taint of the accusations and arrest warrant have dealt him and Gilbert a devastating blow. Gilbert and Busfield have each been married a couple of times. He has three adult children.
This isn’t Busfield’s first trouble with the law over charges of sexual abuse. According to Wikipedia, In 1994, a 17-year-old female extra accused Busfield of sexual assault during the filming of Little Big League in 1993. Busfield denied the allegations and filed a countersuit against the girl’s lawyers, accusing them of defamation. The actor eventually settled the lawsuit for an undisclosed amount. In 1996, a judge ordered the actor to pay $150,000 to the Minneapolis law firm that had represented the accuser following the loss of his defamation suit.
