BTS Drama That Led to Jennifer Esposito Getting Fired from Blue Bloods
Detective Danny Reagan (Donnie Wahlberg) and Maria Baez (Marisa Ramirez) are long-time police partners on Blue Bloods that have also been getting a little cozier of late.
While it's rumored that Reagan and Baez may get more intimate in the forthcoming seasons, fans often forget about Danny's first partner – Detective Jackie Curatola.
Detective Curatola (Jennifer Esposito) was a regular on Blue Bloods and part of the original cast. The character is a former partner of Danny and divorced.
As a result, she is routinely harassed by men seeking to ask her out on a date. However, in 2012, the supporting character mysteriously disappeared from the cast of Blue Bloods.
The explanation provided on the show was that Detective Curatola began to demonstrate signs of burnout and opted to retire from the police force.
Be that as it may, upon closer inspection, there is much more drama going on behind the scenes. In fact, fans are shocked to discover the real reason Jennifer Esposito was removed from Blue Bloods.
According to Esposito, the actress collapsed on the set early into the filming of season three. She suffers from Celiac disease, a condition that causes – among other things – severe allergic reactions. Hence, when Esposito mistakenly consumed gluten, she lost consciousness as a result of the interaction.
Esposito informed Us Weekly that the advice from her doctor suggested she take a week of medical leave. Nevertheless, CBS (the network that produces Blue Bloods) was not convinced that Esposito was critically sick.
Rather, the network believed Esposito deliberately avoided Blue Bloods because she demanded a pay raise. The actress responded by requesting a limited workload upon return, but CBS reacted by firing her instead.
The announcement triggered a dilemma for the cast and crew. They not only had to explain Detective Curatola's premature exit from Blue Bloods but develop a new character to serve as a replacement.
Eventually, the production would settle with Megan Boone, who replaced the cast member as Detective Kate Lansing.
Still, the news didn't exactly go over well with Esposito, who lashed out on Twitter, accusing the Blue Bloods cast and crew of being unreasonable and, worse, racist.
Esposito ranted in a tweet: "CBS got rid of the only minority cast member so they can have an ALL WHITE CAST like CSI."
The actress has a reason to feel upset and betrayed. However, throwing CBS under the bus hasn't exactly done Esposito any favors. She's appeared in limited roles since the abrupt departure of Blue Bloods, most notably in the Amazon original series The Boys.