Finn Wolfhard is having a great year, with a burgeoning career, first in his role as Mike Wheeler in Season 1 of the Netflix series “Stranger Things,” as well as the upcoming Season 2. He also starred as Richie Tozier in the recent blockbuster, box office record adaptation of Stephen King’s novel “It.” However, while he is seeing much success, the 14-year-old recently fired the APA agency and his agent, Tyler Grasham, relating to a series of sexual assault claims against the former actor.
Tyler Grasham fired first by Wolfhard, then by APA
APA initially confirmed that Grasham was on leave pending an internal investigation into claims he has sexually assaulted or acted in an inappropriate way towards young male actors. Among recent claimants is former actor, now film director Blaise Godbe Lipman. Lipman posted on Facebook about his experiences with Grasham while looking for representation as a child actor ten years ago.
When The Hollywood Reporter initially contacted APA, they would only state that Grasham was currently on leave. They offered no other details of the status of their investigation, other than they are looking into the matter.
They said a neutral and independent investigator had been tasked to research the claims against the agent and that this is a confidential personnel matter. In the meantime, Grasham has reportedly set his Instagram account to private, while deleting his Facebook page.
As reported by Deadline, it has since been confirmed that Grasham was fired by APA following their investigations. The agency said in a statement that the agent had been “terminated, effective immediately.” This reportedly followed Wolfhard’s decision to file a police report with the LAPD on Friday.
Actors looking for new representation
Grasham reportedly had several child actors among his around 50 clients, which APA is now working to place with other agencies.
Cameron Boyce who acts in the Disney “Descendants” franchise had reportedly also fired the agent and is yet to decide whether he will stay with APA.
Due to recent successes in "Stranger Things" and clown horror "It," Wolfhard has been approached by several agencies, including WME, CAA, Paradigm and UTA. However, reportedly the 14-year-old has made no decision as to which agency to sign.
This latest scandal follows in the wake of the ongoing stories relating to film mogul Harvey Weinstein. Those stories have highlighted the problems of sexual harassment and misconduct in Hollywood and the film industry in general, as many actors and actresses open up about their own experiences.