PBS Fires Fred Willard After Lewd Bust

PBS has given Fred Willard the boot from Market Warriors after the actor was busted for allegedly playing with himself in a Hollywood porn cinema. "Given the unfortunate news," Willard is off the show with immediate effect, and will be replaced as narrator by Antiques Roadshow host Mark Walberg, a PBS spokesman tells ABC. Willard, 76, still has a starring role in ABC's Trust Us With Your Life, and also appears in upcoming movie The Yank.

The actor says the arrest at the Tiki Theater was a "big misunderstanding" and the alleged lewd conduct "didn't happen," reports TMZ. He says a "strange situation" led him to the X-rated venue, but "it's all being straightened out." The theater manager says he'd never seen Willard in the place before, and he doesn't believe he did anything wrong. "Police officers arrested him suspiciously," the manager tells E! Online. "I did not see anything." (More Fred Willard stories.)