A Grey’s Anatomy supporting actress is facing backlash after she went public about her past issues with late actor Eric Dane, referring to his terminal illness as “karma”.
Eric Dane died on February 19 at the age of 53, almost a year after announcing that he had been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a terminal neurodegenerative disease.
He was best known for playing Dr. Mark Sloan, or “McSteamy”, on Grey’s Anatomy, which he played for six years, as well as Cal Jacobs on Euphoria.
Following the news of his death, many of his former castmates posted emotional messages celebrating Dane’s work and the friendship they built on set.
But a supporting actress on the show caught the eye after naming Dane “aggressor and bastard” and stated that she influenced his departure from the series.
Laura Ann Tull posted on Threads about her time working with Dane in response to the Variety announcement of his passing.
Laura Ann Tull, who claims to have worked as an extra for three years on the show Grey’s Anatomywrote on Threads on Friday, February 20 — just one day after Dane’s death — that the actor “was a bully and a scumbag.”
“He was a coward who bullied me. He made fun of me. This was while I had beaten cancer and was starting to get an autoimmune disease. He was a self-absorbed narcissist. The fact that he died doesn’t change the destruction he caused me”, her post reads.
“He hated me because I told a girl who was reading a Jane Austen novel on set that I liked classic literature. He called me weird without even talking to me. Karma ec***“, she wrote.”“she wrote.
“I just wish he would apologize and admit what he did. I’m the reason he got fired from Grey’s“she continued.
Tull has not provided any evidence to support his allegations against the late actor or his alleged role in his departure from the show.
On social media, many fans expressed skepticism about her comments and questioned her decision to express her anger towards the Euphoria star following his death.
“Saying that about someone who just died of a horrible disease pretty much tells us all we need to know. He can’t have been the problem here!”one person said.
“A background actress trying to cash in on his death”someone else countered.
“She was an extra for three years. She said she never spoke to him. I highly doubt that he, the star of the show, left because she didn’t like him.” a third person commented.
Another user rated her posts as “so ugly and useless” given the timing, while someone else wrote: “It seems he was right.”
On Threads, Tull also said that Dane’s alleged actions caused her health problems and led to premature menopause. She further suggested that the alleged conflict with the actor is the reason why she left the show.
The actress made similar allegations in a 2018 post on Medium. In the article, she said that she never spoke directly to Dane on set, but that he spoke negatively about her to others and called her “strange”.
“I worked on the set of Grey’s Anatomy for three years as an extra, but I never spoke directly to Dane,” she wrote. “But I heard him talking about me.”
“I have the privilege of being considered queer by a well-known actor, Eric Dane, or at least Arrnie Starr, who is the elected representative of Sag Aftra, sent me an email saying that’s what Eric Dane said.”
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Dane’s departure from Grey’s in 2012 was due to creative and budgetary decisions, as veteran actors like him were becoming increasingly expensive for the network.
Dane suggested that his issues with painkiller addiction weren’t the main reason he was axed from the ABC series, but that “they certainly didn’t help.”
Dane was introduced at the end of season two as a guest star, but became a series regular the following season due to positive fan reactions.
In 2021, nine years after his last appearance, he briefly returned to the series when the protagonist, played by Ellen Pompeo, had a dream during a COVID-induced coma.
In addition to Grey’s Anatomy and Euphoria, Dane has starred in the fantasy series Charmed, the crime drama Countdown and the action drama The Last Ship. He has also appeared in films such as Marley & Me, Valentine’s Day, Burlesque and Bad Boys: Ride or Die.
He has two daughters, Billie, 15, and Georgia, 14, with his ex-wife Rebecca Gayheart.
