‘Trailer Park Boys’ Bubbles Actor Mike Smith Has Allegedly Been A Creep For Decades
Canadian actor, writer, comedian and musician Mike Smith is stepping away from his long-running hit sitcom Trailer Park Boys nearly eight years after the incident that led to his current legal troubles.
Earlier today, Smith showed up to his court date in Halifax, Nova Scotia over a sexual assault charge stemming from an incident that took place in late 2017. Smith, who has played the fan-favorite character Bubbles on Trailer Park Boys since 2001, was previously arrested in Los Angeles in 2016 on suspicion of misdemeanor domestic battery, though LAPD did not file any charges against Smith.
Canadian law enforcement finally filed charges against Smith on October 2nd of this year, and, after nearly a decade of accusations and legal issues for the embattled Trailer Park Boys star, Smith has finally appeared in court to answer for the allegations against him.
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“We are aware of the allegation concerning Mike Smith dating back to 2017 and take such matters seriously,” Trailer Park Boys Inc. expressed in a statement to the media. “We recognize how difficult an allegation of this nature is for all involved.”
Smith reportedly wrapped filming on Trailer Park Boys Season 13 back in August.
“At this time, Mike has stepped away from his role at Trailer Park Boys Incorporated and Gary Howsam has assumed managing director responsibilities,” Trailer Park Boys Inc. reported.
Not only do allegations against Smith date back almost a decade, but, among communities in his native Nova Scotia, Smith has had a dangerous reputation for as long as he's been in the public eye. In a thread about Smith's sexual assault charges from the Halifax subreddit, the top commenter alluded to Smith's alleged bad behavior at the embattled Bubbles' Mansion, a bar he owned and operated in the city until 2010, writing, “Everyone has known this since he opened bubble’s mansion and catered to underage girls."
“Got banned from there when he grabbed my GFs ass and she slapped him…” another Halifax resident wrote of Bubbles' Mansion, “fuck that guy.”
“I am not surprised in the least,” one more user added of Smith's latest legal troubles.
The universal sentiment of the Halifax subreddit seems to be that the sexual assault charges against Smith have been a long time coming, and not just because the incident leading to the court case occurred so long ago. “this has been an open secret for my entire adult life in the HRM,” one resident said of Smith's alleged misbehavior.
“I worked in the restaurant industry in Halifax in the late 90’s and there were stories about him then," one user wrote, "We were told to avoid him if we saw him and to never go somewhere alone with him.”
Despite Smith's reputation for bad behavior, Trailer Park Boys Inc., including Smith's co-stars John Paul Tremblay and Robb Wells, have continued to abide by Smith, giving him and his character an increasingly prominent role in the franchise. However, following Smith's arrest in 2016, long-time Trailer Park Boys actress Lucy DeCoutere cut ties with the series, writing of her resignation, "If I find out that somebody is abusive, I cut them out of my life. It's very easy."
Since then, Tremblay, Wells and Smith released two more seasons of Trailer Park Boys with a third on the way, as well as the Smith-heavy musical comedy film Standing on the Shoulders of Kitties: The Bubbles and the Shitrockers Story which premiered last December.
While Smith may be stepping away from Trailer Park Boys while he deals with the sexual assault case against him, fans of the series and Nova Scotians have no reason to believe that Trailer Park Boys Inc. will cease enabling one of its biggest stars if the last several decades of Smith's bad behavior hasn't stopped them yet.