Larry Wilcox dropped a bombshell about his exit from “CHiPs.”
During a recent appearance on the “Still Here Hollywood Podcast with Steve Kmetko,” Wilcox, 78, claimed that former co-star Erik Estrada got him fired from the NBC crime drama series after five seasons.
“At the time, it seemed to be like I was working with the biggest egotistical a–hole I’d ever met in my life,” Wilcox said about Estrada, 76.
“For five years, I kind of endured that. I endured it because this series wasn’t about you, Larry,” Wilcox recalled. “So get over it or make a decision and find a solution and be resilient, but don’t wallow in this toxicity. Maybe it’s his fault, maybe it’s your fault, but don’t wallow in it.”
Wilcox, who played Officer Jon Baker while Estrada played Officer Frank Ponch, recalled learning he was fired from his agent, who got the news from NBC executive Brandon Tartikoff.
“He said, ‘You know he loves your work. But they’re going to let you go on CHiPs. Erik had you fired,’” Wilcox remembered his agent telling him.
Wilcox explained that in 1979, Estrada got in a serious motorcycle accident on set and Wilcox gave his co-star first aid, helping save his life. After Estrada got in a second on-set accident, he decided to sue NBC and MGM, which set in motion Wilcox’s firing.
“He had both them by the you know what, because now either they agreed to what his demands were or he was going to walk,” Wilcox said of what he learned from his agent at the time. “They were in a position that they had five years, but they needed that sixth year for syndication.”
“So Brandon said as much as he hates to do this, he really has no choice,” Wilcox’s agent told the actor when he was fired. “And Larry, Erik wants you out of there, and some other actors also. And you’re gone. I’m sorry.”
“I said, ‘Oh, sh-t,’” Wilcox recalled. “This is where the spiral really begins.”
Wilcox said that his team created a “defensive strategy” because he felt like he “looked like the loser” in the situation. He secured an interview with a journalist and made it seem like he decided to leave the series on his own, which he said “worked really well.”
“And for a long time, I went on angry at Erik and pissed off,” Wilcox admitted. “The hick in me said, ‘I hope I don’t meet him, cause if I go behind the barn I’m gonna teach him a lesson.’ Not a good path, but anyway. That was the punk in me that time. And I apologize.”
Wilcox said that years later, producer Cy Chermak told him he was in the meeting where Estrada got him fired and shared the “the whole story” of what happened to Wilcox.
“And it was kind of troubling to say the least, right?” Wilcox said. “Abandonment, disloyalty, all the things that I get upset about.”
But after five years passed, Wilcox had a drastic change of heart and decided to forgive Estrada.
“I’m going to love on this guy. I’m going to love on him unconditionally. Don’t fake it. Either you do it or you don’t So that’s what I did,” Wilcox recalled. “I just became his best friend.”
“Any stage that he wanted to upstage me, I helped him. I just compromised submission on every single level. And I got back all the rewards,” Wilcox continued. “Now we have a great relationship and we have lots of fun.”
Wilcox also said that he now has a new perspective about his dynamic with Estrada during “CHiPs.”
“He was fighting for his life to be the star of the series, and, in a way, you were in his way. He didn’t need any parasitic drag. He needed to move forward,” Wilcox said of his former co-star. “So I actually enjoy him now. I watch him as a spectator. Like all of us, I see good and bad in Erik Estrada, but a lot of entertainment. He’s an entertainer that loves to be an entertainer. So be it. God bless him.”
The Post has reached out to Estrada’s rep for comment.
“CHiPs” aired on NBC from 1977 to 1983. Wilcox was replaced by Tom Reilly in the show’s sixth and final season, but he did return for the 1998 reunion film.