Connolly Pleads For Pause On Piven's Public Plundering

ContactMusic.com has the news that Kevin Connolly is urging critics of his Entourage co-star Jeremy Piven to back off after the actor. Piven was attacked for dropping out of the Broadway play SPEED-THE-PLOW last year.

Piven was forced to step down from 'PLOW' in December, citing severe fatigue. He later revealed he had been diagnosed with toxic mercury poisoning due to his love of sushi.

His shocking departure left the production scrambling to find a last-minute replacement in the form of actors Norbert Leo Butz and William H. Macy. The producers took their complaint to the Actors Equity Association, claiming Piven's exit jeopardised show earnings.

Connolly contends that Piven meant no harm when he quit the Broadway show and is calling for a stop to the nasty comments directed towards his TV colleague, because he's "a good guy".

He says, "I know that there was a real backlash but Jeremy's a good guy. "It's easy to point the finger when you don't know what's going on in a person's body but until you walk in those person's shoes, you don't know what's going on. I think he got a bum deal, I don't think it was an ideal situation for him.

Connolly remarked, "Jeremy's a good guy and I don't think he had any intention of getting out of the play. I think people were a little hard." To read the complete article, click here.

Jeremy Piven has been fish-free for 10 months, according to his recent interview with PEOPLE. The actor proudly states, "I haven't had a piece of fish since the doctor told me to lower my blood mercury level... so, it's been almost 10 months now."

The Entourage actor claims his life has been changed since he eliminated seafood from his diet, which motivated him to make changes to other aspects of his life.

"I changed all of those habits," Piven says of his life post-Broadway. "All of these things happen to make us better. So, you've got to embrace that." He adds, "I'm a lot better. What basically happens is when you work your whole life without stopping like I've done, you end up in the hospital. Basically, I had a cardiologist say your body is trying to catch up and it can't. I had a resting heart rate of 47, something called arrhythmia, along with all the mercury poisoning."

When asked about the path to health, Piven shares, "You just change your life and kind of do it. It wasn't necessarily the sushi. It was just a steady diet of fish. Twice a day for 20 years. That's not right for anyone."

Recently the producers of "Speed-the-Plow" issued the following statement:

Actors' Equity and the producers of Speed-the-Plow have agreed that the dispute regardingJeremy Piven's early exit from the show will be heard by Arbitrator George Nicolau in New York on June 8 and June 9, 2009. At this time, the producers are working on preparing their case, and in connection with that, have requested a wide range of relevant information from Mr. Piven relating to his claims that an alleged illness required him to leave the show. The information requested includes, among other things, medical records and documentation of Mr. Piven's activities both during and after the run of the show. The producers recognize that most of this information is of a highly sensitive nature and, therefore, they have proposed to the Union that all of the information that is turned over be subject to a strict confidentiality agreement.

Piven was in New York City earlier this year to appear for a grievance  hearing regarding his shock exit from the Broadway play Speed-The-Plow.

The grievance committee (made up of League and Equity representatives) did not rule for either side.

 

 

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