Ed Asner's feud with Ted Knight

[TMC]

Ed Asner and Ted Knight had a terrible falling out over politics, with Knight badmouthing Asner in a press conference in 1982, which was widely reported on in the media, after Asner was elected president of the Screen Actors Guild and his show Lou Grant was cancelled. Knight had joined a group headed by Charlton Heston called Actors Working for an Actors Guild (AWAG) which opposed Asner and the SAG board of directors. Asner was an outspoken liberal who said publicly expressing his political views was done as an individual, not in his role as head of SAG. His opponents accused him of politicizing SAG.

Asked if he had watched Lou Grant Knight responded:

I could never bring myself to watch the show because I know Ed's moves so well. I know everything he does so I could never give any credibility to anything that happened or get caught up in the story.

When I watch a show, I want to be entertained. I don't want to be lectured, nor do I wish to be bored. I have peculiar tastes and viewing habits. So I never watched Ed at all. In fact, I don't watch that much television. I don't watch my own show.

Ed talks a little bit about Ted here at the 4:15 mark.



"He was paranoid and jealous of me."