“Criminal Minds” star Paget Brewster lashed out at ScreenRant staffer Shealyn Scott over X on Saturday afternoon for her story lamenting the changes Paramount+ has delivered to the long-running procedural drama.
“Hello critic Shealynn Scott,” Brewster wrote within the since-deleted post. “You’re young. You don’t know that bad pics and bad reviews can result in 350 people losing their jobs. Sell vintage. Work at a shelter. Do something higher than what you do now. Because immediately you suck.”
Film and TV critics were quick to hit back within the replies. David Rooney, chief film critic at The Hollywood Reporter, wrote in his response to Brewster, “This can be a very bad look. An actor on a long-running show attacking a young reviewer who contextualizes her respectful criticisms with obvious knowledge of the fabric — says far more about u being thin-skinned than it does about her professionalism. ‘Work at a shelter,’ really?!”
Senior ScreenRant author Andy Behbakht also got here to the defense of Scott, writing, “That is disgusting behavior in your part, and really tragic to see you tearing down a young female journalist whom you’re literally telling that she ‘sucks’ and that she shouldn’t be in the sphere that she is in. I stand by my colleague, and also you owe her an apology.”
Brewster released an apology for the post on Sunday. She wrote on X, “Hi guys, I used to be mean to Shealyn Scott last night and I profoundly regret it. Shame on me for insulting a human being for doing their job. I’m very sorry, Shealyn. And I’m sorry to those that follow me that you simply saw me behave like that. Seems, last night, I sucked.”
“Criminal Minds” premiered its fifteenth and final season on CBS in 2020, after which was revived for Paramount+ in 2022 under the title “Criminal Minds: Evolution.” Scott’s piece discussed the changes “Criminal Minds” underwent when it went from linear to streaming.
“From details as small as a rankings change to TV-MA— which allows David Rossi (Joe Mantegna) and Emily Prentiss (Paget Brewster) the occasional heated expletive— to latest foremost solid members like Tyler Green (Ryan-James Hatanaka), there’s little question that ‘Criminal Minds: Evolution’ has its own unique identity,” Scott wrote in her story. “Loads of the continuation’s changes have been received warmly, and ‘Criminal Minds’ unquestionably still works as a gripping crime drama, but there are only as many tweaks that feel more like downgrades— including the brand new 10-episode season structure. Though logical in theory, the shortened seasons are unfortunately working against ‘Criminal Minds’’ biggest strengths.”