Coroner actor Nicholas Campbell off the show after using N-word on movie set

Canadian actor Nicholas Campbell, known for his role as Gordon Cooper on CBC's Coroner, will not return to the show's production until an investigation can be conducted, after Campbell was heard using racist slurs on the set of a separate film project, CBC News has learned.  

Andre Mike, a Black grip technician from Pickering, Ont., says the actor used the N-word while working on the film Impasse in Orangeville, Ont., northwest of Toronto.

In a statement to CBC News, Campbell says he would like to apologize personally to Mike and anyone else on set whom he has offended.

"That word should never be spoken aloud, certainly not by the likes of me, a white guy who is old enough to know better. It doesn't matter the context in which it was said," he said.

"It doesn't matter that I was retelling a story, or that I was actually quoting someone else's usage of that word. That horrible and divisive word should never come out of my mouth. And it never will again."

In his statement, Campbell says he did not call Mike or any other member of the production the offensive slur.

Mike remembers it differently. 

He says it was a cold, rainy day, and as he was clearing stones for Campbell's path, he heard the actor say, "You winter N-words are used to this kind of weather." 

Mike says the statement caused the director of photography to ask, "What was that?"

Then Mike says he heard Campbell say, "Well, you know, you northern N-words are used to it."

Mike says he froze, feeling emotionally paralyzed. "Two seconds later, we just continued rolling," he said. Mike told CBC News the slurs were directed toward him.

"There was myself and another Black man right there, behind him," he said, referring to another crew member. "He wouldn't be saying it to anyone else."

CBC News spoke with three crew members who said they witnessed Campbell using the N-word on set.

Mike says he was shocked by what had occurred.