Mark Salling axed from Gods and Secrets after child porn indictment
Mark Salling has been cut from ‘Gods and Secrets’ after being indicted on charges of child pornography.
Director Adi Shankar has axed the former ‘Glee’ star from the mini-series after Mark was indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts earlier this week.
The director said in a statement: "’Gods and Secrets’ will be moving forward without Mark Salling. He has been cut from the mini-series, I will personally be paying for the reshoots, and I hope that Mark finds inner peace. Furthermore, a percentage of profits from the project will go to a charity for abused children.
"Hopefully some good will come of all of this and I pray that when the dust has settled, the hyper-connectivity of the information age that has brought to light the transgressions of several public figures, will also force us to look within our society to identify and eliminate the root cause of the rape culture we exist in."
The statement also said: "The innocence of our planet’s children is something that must be protected at all costs. As entertainers, our role is to be the "conscience of humanity," striving to make the world better for future generations. Sadly, we live in a country where statistically at least one in five women will be sexually assaulted in their lifetime, 80,000 children are reportedly sexually abused every year, and at least one in six boys and one in four girls are sexually abused before the age of 18. According to available data, every two minutes, an American is sexually assaulted. Even more troubling, exponentially more cases go unreported as in most situations, authority figures are ill equipped to help.
"The aforementioned statistics are nauseating, reminiscent of a third world country, and until very recently, kept out of the limelight. Child abuse is a cultural cancer whose tentacles penetrate far deeper than a single celebrity caught with illicit images on his computer, just as date rape is a is a far more prominent issue than the repeated transgressions of one mediocre entertainer from the 1970’s. Child abuse is a democratic disease existing across socioeconomic lines affecting every walk of life. It affects all of us, and more importantly, its existence needs to cease to exist. Period."
Last year 33-year-old Mark’s residence was searched by LAPD’s Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force, where they allegedly found hundreds of indecent images of young children.
The police were reportedly tipped off by one of Mark’s ex-girlfriends and he was brought to Los Angeles’ Downtown jail.
This was not the first time last year that the actor was in trouble with the law, after he was previously sued by ex-girlfriend Roxanne Gorzela for sexual battery.
She claimed he forced her to have unprotected sex with him and then later, when she confronted him over his actions, he allegedly pushed her to the ground and caused injury to her knees.
The pair settled the case for a reported $2.7 million and whilst the sexual battery case was dropped, Mark admitted to causing her to fall and injure herself through negligence.
