Given that Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell’s relationship was such a beloved aspect of “Martin,” the couple’s lack of scenes during the fifth season was impossible to ignore. While IMDb lists Campbell as appearing in all 132 episodes, she and Lawrence didn’t have scenes together for most of the show’s end. This production decision was influenced by Campbell’s sexual assault lawsuit she’d filed against Lawrence in 1997.
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According to the Los Angeles Times, Campbell’s filings alleged that Lawrence sexually harassed and threatened her. She also claimed that HBO failed to protect her on-set, despite being well-aware of her working conditions. Lawrence denied any wrongdoing and still does to this day. While speaking to GQ in 2020, Lawrence opened up about what caused his show to end prematurely. “Well, how can I say this? It just was time to end,” said Lawrence. After he likened the situation with Campbell to “a lot of bullsh*t,” the interviewer asked if the former co-stars had talked about her lawsuit. “We don’t need to talk about something that just didn’t happen. So I just decided to walk away from the show. I just decided to end it. People said that I got canceled, but that wasn’t the case.”
