An already-taped Chrissy Teigen guest appearance on Netflix’s Never Have I Ever has been scrapped, just weeks before the show’s second-season premiere. Although her role was never announced, Teigen had already taped the part: She was to have been the narrator of one episode, a callback to the season-one twist that saw Andy Samberg temporarily filling the role usually played by tennis icon John McEnroe. Now, however, Teigen has “decided to step away from the guest role,†a spokesperson for the show told Vulture, adding her part “is expected to be recast.â€
While the rep declined to offer further details, the last-minute change comes weeks after Teigen made a high-profile public apology to Courtney Stodden for a decade-old series of harassing tweets, including one in which Teigen told Stodden — then a teenager — to “take a dirt nap.â€
Teigen’s appearance, like Samberg’s before, was meant to have been a surprise for viewers. In a letter which accompanied media screeners sent out to feature writers on May 5, Netflix asked journalists to refrain from revealing her audio appearance, or that there would once again be a guest narrator on the show. But just days later, Teiegen’s old tweets resurfaced in a Daily Beast story, in which Stodden also said Teigen had sent them direct messages suggesting they commit suicide.
In a multi-tweet apology thread May 12, Teigen responded, saying her past self was “an insecure, attention-seeking troll†and said she was “ashamed and completely embarrassed†by her actions. Teigen has not posted on Twitter since. As for the Never Have I Ever episode, Netflix is, unsurprisingly, not saying whether a new narrator to replace Teigen has been cast, or, if it has, who said person is. Season two of the Universal Television–produced, Peabody-nominated series is still expected to premiere in July.