Artie Lange was arrested for possession of cocaine, heroin, and drug paraphernalia last week, an incident that left him anticipating his firing from HBO’s Crashing. And, according to Lange, that’s exactly what happened. Appearing on Len Berman & Todd Schnitt in the Morning, Lange spoke of the situation as if his termination was a done deal. He said, “Since this HBO show Crashing premiered, which I just got fired from — I might go to jail. I’ve had a lot of success and a lot of happy times, but when I do the failure stuff … that’s all TMZ wants to talk about, and they get it out there and I lose my job.â€
It turns out, however, that Lange’s employers see things somewhat differently. In a statement to Page Six, HBO said, “HBO has not fired Artie Lange. ‘Crashing’ has completed production for season one and has been recently renewed for a second season. Scripts for season two have not yet been written.†Judd Apatow, a producer on the Pete Holmes comedy, also denied Lange’s firing, tweeting, “Artie was not fired from the show.â€
Upon Lange’s arrest, Apatow originally promised, “We would never give up on Artie or anyone struggling with addiction.†Regardless, it remains unclear as to whether Lange will be included in Crashing’s second season.