Heroes alum Leonard Roberts accuses co-star Ali Larter of having him written off show over ‘tension’

Leonard Roberts has accused his Heroes onscreen wife Ali Larter of having him written off their NBC series after one season due to ‘tension’ and lack of ‘chemistry.’

In an essay in Variety, the 48-year-old actor recounted how he was hired then fired off as D.L. Hawkins, a prison inmate discovering he has the power to phase through solid objects.

‘In an early draft of the pilot was literally described as “a white man’s nightmare,”‘ Leonard wrote.

‘The script suggested D.L. and Niki (Larter) had a volatile relationship – and it wasn’t long before art was imitating life, with me on the receiving end of pushback from my co-star regarding the playing of a particularly tense scene.’

When director Greg Beeman asked the 44-year-old actress to lower her top’s straps for a bedroom scene with Roberts, he overheard her loudly telling Beeman in a meeting: ‘I have never been so disrespected – as an actress, a woman or a human being.’

The DePaul University grad noted how when Ali later filmed a lingerie-clad seduction scene with Adrian Pasdar, where she was ‘open’ and ‘exuberant.’

‘I pondered why my co-star had exuberantly played a different scene with the Petrelli character involving overt sexuality while wearing lingerie, but found aspects of one involving love and intimacy expressed through dialogue with my character, her husband, disrespectful to her core,’ Leonard mused.

‘I couldn’t help wondering whether race was a factor.’

Later, Roberts and Larter took part in a joint cover of Entertainment Weekly while other castmembers paired off for other covers.

‘”I’m hearing our cover is selling the least of all of them,” she told me,’ the St. Louis-born actor recalled.

‘It was the first and only thing she said to me that night and I believed the subtext was clear: I was tarnishing her brand.’

Creator Tim Kring later told Leonard his character had been ‘painted into a corner’ and he was going to be killed off due to lack of ‘chemistry’ with the New Jersey-born blonde.

‘[Producer Dennis] Hammer stepped in. He said he needed me to know I was “loved” and my co-star was “hated” by many for her behavior,’ Roberts wrote.

‘”Don’t think of this as a situation where the Black man loses and the white woman wins,” Hammer said.’

After shooting D.L.’s death scene, Ali gave Leonard a goodbye embrace which was ‘the most we had ever touched on or off camera.’

‘I acknowledge that a lack of diversity at the upper levels of the staff may have contributed to Leonard experiencing the lack of sensitivity that he describes,’ Kring said in a statement.

‘I have been committed to improving upon this issue with every project I pursue. I remember Leonard fondly and wish him well.’

Variety corroborated Roberts’ account of the events with 10 anonymous people close to the NBC superhero drama, now streaming on Peacock TV. 

‘It would be 10 years before I would become a series regular again,’ Leonard noted.

‘Were the people I worked with racists? Even now, my instinct is to hedge, and say that I met many great people while on Heroes, some of whom I still call friends.’

Playing the ill-fated firefighter earned Leonard a ‘Future Classic Award’ trophy at the Fifth Annual TV Land Awards in 2007 alongside his castmates. 

The Spider-Man guest star is probably best know for playing Atlanta A&T University percussion leader Sean Taylor opposite Nick Cannon’s Devon Miles in Charles Stone III’s hit 2002 drama, Drumline.

Leonard also memorably portrayed Forrest Gates, a half-demon, half-cyborg agent for The Initiative, in the fourth season of The WB’s Buffy the Vampire Slayer between 1999-2000.

Ali – who did not comment – will next reprise her role as Dr. Grace Sawyer in the third season of police procedural The Rookie, which premieres January 3 on ABC.