T.J. Miller Resurfaces (Though He Never Really Went Away)

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | July 9, 2018 |

By Dustin Rowles | Celebrity | July 9, 2018 |

In 2017, T.J. Miller exited the HBO series Silicon Valley, he gave a bizarre exit interview, and earlier this year, we found out there was more to the story. He was frequently intoxicated; he showed up late to the set; often fell asleep while working; and the environment surrounding Miller was not great.

Meanwhile, late last year, sexual assault allegations dating back to 2001 resurfaced. An ex-girlfriend alleged that he had gotten violent during a sexual encounter. On top of that, in April of this year, Miller was arrested after phoning in a fake bomb threat against a woman with whom an intoxicated Miller had been hostile.

One might imagine that sexual assault allegations, complaints that he was difficult to work with, and an arrest over a fairly serious incident (an entire Amtrak train had to be evacuated and the passengers on the train had to have their bags searched) would derail Miller’s career. However, his role in Deadpool 2 — which had already filmed — went ahead as scheduled, and while Miller did not do any promotion for the film, few among the cast and crew addressed the situation surrounding Miller other than to say that he would not appear in a third Deadpool film if one were to be made.

So, Miller’s career is over, right?

No.

Miller seems to have reintegrated back into his life fairly seamlessly. He’s still doing voice work for the next How to Train Your Dragon movie, he’s going to be in an $80 million action movie with Kristen Stewart called Underwater, and his stand-up tour continues. (Seriously, they couldn’t find anyone else with a voice similar to Miller’s to do How to Train Your Dragon 3?)

In fact, last week, he appeared on Doug Benson’s podcast Doug Loves Movies along with his podcast partner, Cash Levy. I listened to the podcast just because I wanted to know if anyone would address any of the T.J. Miller incidents. No one mentioned a thing, though they did promote Miller’s stand-up dates and Miller and Levy’s podcast, Cashing in with T.J. Miller.

Cashing in with T.J. Miller actually used to be a Nerdist podcast, but it is no longer part of the Nerdist network. No announcement to that effect was made on Cashing In or by Nerdist, but Cash Levy did mention in February on his other podcast, Cash Withdrawal, that both podcast would no longer be affiliated with Nerdist (no reason was given). It seems that Nerdist quietly separated itself from Miller in the wake of the sexual assault allegations last year.

Nonetheless, it looks as though things are back to normal for Miller, who resumed touring as a stand-up comedian in June. He’s booked basically until the end of the year. He’s also resumed his podcast duties (in fact, he and Cash Levy recorded a podcast 10 days after Miller was arrested and made no mention of it) and his fellow comedians, like Doug Benson, have welcomed him back into the fold without so much as publicly acknowledging the controversies surrounding Miller.

Indeed, as Courtney often says when it comes to white dudes in the entertainment industry, they’re gonna be just fine. They always are.