Originally posted Saturday, August 25, 2018 by RODNEY HO/rho@ajc.com on his AJC Radio & TV Talk blog
It was an obvious question once the news came out: why was Jason Sundquist still working for CBS Studios with "MacGyver" in Atlanta after he sued the studio for incompetency after he was injured on the set of "Hawaii Five-O" in 2016?
Deadline.com reported that Sundquist, who was hospitalized after a stunt-related injury in Atlanta for "MacGyver" Monday, had settled his 2016 suit in June of this year but as a requirement, CBS had to hire him for other work.
The website also added this juicy detail:
Jeff Wolfe, who was replaced by Sundquist on MacGyver, warned his stunt crew in July that Sundquist might not be up to the job and might have gotten the gig "not for the right reason," while accusing "the powers that be" of not making safety "a priority."
CBS Studios released this statement in response:
"Justin Sundquist is a long-time stunt performer with previous stunt coordinator experience who has been working in this field for almost 2 decades. He was a well-regarded stunt performer on Hawaii Five-0, when he was injured in an unfortunate accident last year [sic, 2016] that resulted in a legal claim. As part of the settlement of that claim, and his positive standing with producers on that show, he was hired to an open stunt coordinator position on MacGyver by a senior producer who had moved to that production from Hawaii Five-0."
Sundquist’s injuries left him in the ICU in an Atlanta hospital. He is an experenced stuntman with more than 100 credits to his name. But in his 2016 lawsuit, he did say the injuries “will likely put an end to his stellar career.”
OSHA is investigating the incident.
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