Entourage creator Doug Ellin is defending his show, cast, and crew after star Debi Mazar came out with eyebrow-raising allegations.
Mazar played fiery press agent Shauna Roberts on the wildly popular, Emmy-winning HBO series but said her experience with the show was “toxic.” During an interview with The Times, the actress described the show’s first season as “a joy-fest” that went downhill.
“In the third season, the set was a testosterone-fuelled environment. I’m tough, but it got toxic towards the end for me,” Mazar said. “I’d had my second baby, and they didn’t like that I got fat, even though I got skinny again.”
But Ellin, 58, has vehemently denounced these allegations. After Mazar’s viral claims, the show’s creator posted a rebuttal on X, writing, “My thoughts are this is disgusting.”
“Never, ever did myself or anyone that matters care or discuss Debi Mazar’s body. I would one million percent embrace any woman who got pregnant,” he wrote, quote-tweeting the Hollywood Reporter’s post on Mazar.
The creator added that the only comments he made were to stars Adrian Grenier (“I wanted him more muscular”) and Jerry Ferrara (“who I wanted fatter,” he wrote).
“I will forever feel bad about that,” he stipulated, “Because I didn’t realize the health implications at the time and now couldn’t be happier for Jerry’s transformation.”
Mazar told The Times that her time on Entourage was “a lot of fun, until it wasn’t.”
“It was complicated because I’m outspoken and never held back my discontent. But I always was professional, and I’m grateful I was on it,” the Goodfellas actress said.
Her claims about the body-shaming she faced on set may be new, but Mazar has previously spoken out about the show’s environment. In 2020, she told PeopleTV that while Ellin wrote her “a really strong character,” the set was “very testosterone-driven and misogynistic.”
Others have issued similar complaints. Wonder Woman star Gal Gadot once said she “hated” appearing on the show–which she did for a single episode–and alleged that “someone there behaved inappropriately.”
Entourage ran from 2004 to 2011 and won six Emmys. An Entourage film was released in 2015.
Since its conclusion, the show has carried a mixed legacy. Critics have retrospectively commented on its representation of women and masculinity, with many tearing apart what they describe as “blatant” misogyny and homophobia.
Ellin has previously hit back at critics and commentators of his show. After writer Max Davidson satirized contemporary television and its shifting ethics in an essay about Entourage for McSweeney’s, Ellin wrote an explosive response on X: “Talentless nobodies like you speak on twitter and then your zombie friends at s--tty newspapers, that nobody reads anymore reprint your trash.”
“Anyway, f--- you,” he concluded. “Oh we got a Peabody and a bafta too, ya loser.”
