Just a week after its premiere, Gerak Khas 2.0 has been hit by controversy after an actress playing a female police inspector in the drama was arrested during an Op Noda raid at an entertainment outlet, forcing her character to be written out of the series.
Skop Production producer Datuk Yusof Haslam said filming for the 26-episode drama is already 90% complete, with only about two weeks of production remaining.
Following the incident, the production team decided to remove the actress from the drama to safeguard the integrity of Gerak Khas 2.0.
"If I'm not mistaken, she still has scenes in Episodes 23 or 24 out of the total 26 episodes. So we cancelled all of those later scenes.
"This was beyond our control. If we had known about this from the beginning, we certainly would not have cast her.
“She has acted in our productions before and there were never any issues. But once something like this happened, we immediately removed her from the production."
"With filming completed 90%, there are only a few scenes left involving her character. We've removed all of them now. We won't be hiring her anymore."
Yusof was responding to the steps taken after the actress was arrested by police and tested positive for three types of drugs during a raid carried out by officers from the Dang Wangi district police headquarters on July 7.
He said the firm action serves as a lesson not only for the actress portraying the police inspector, but also for the entire cast and production crew.
According to Yusof, he had reminded everyone from the start to maintain discipline and avoid getting involved in any activities that could tarnish the image of the drama and the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM).
"This is a lesson for her and for other artistes, including the crew. Don't get involved in negative activities or go to places like nightclubs. Especially for women, people are quick to judge.
"Even while making this drama, I constantly stressed the importance of integrity and avoiding anything that could damage the image of the police force. But how can we control people? Even if you have 10 children, if one or two of them get into trouble, you wouldn't necessarily know."
Yusof also said he rejected any appeals or excuses from the actress after deciding to scrap all of her remaining scenes.
"There's no need to beg or come up with all sorts of excuses. I told her, it's too late.
"Take this as a lesson in life. Once you make a mistake, people will forget all the good things you've done before."
Previously, Yusof revealed in a statement that he had twice warned the actress not to get involved in any activities that could tarnish the reputation of the drama.
Gerak Khas 2.0 premiered on July 3 and airs every Friday on TVS.
Besides Yusof himself, the cast also includes Hans Isaac, Erra Fazira, C. Kumaresan and Salina Saibi.
The actresses playing police inspectors in the series are Tisha Shamsir, Nabiha Aimi and Emily Elizabeth.
