'Criminal Minds' Star Paget Brewster Publicly Apologizes After Attacking a Critic Online
Paget Brewster had a bad night on X. Then she owned it.
The Criminal Minds star came out swinging on June 20 after a ScreenRant article criticized the show's shift to shorter seasons on Paramount+. Brewster called out the writer by name, shared a link to the piece, and posted: "You're young. You don't know that bad pics and bad reviews can lead to 350 people losing their jobs. Sell vintage. Work at a shelter. Do something better than what you do now. Because right now you suck."
The post was deleted. The damage wasn't.
Brewster got hit from all sides. Entertainment journalists called the comments "highly unprofessional." Others said it was "horrible to treat a journalist that way" — particularly because the writer, Shealyn Scott, a senior writer at ScreenRant, was clearly a fan making a thoughtful creative argument, not a hatchet job.
What did Scott actually write? That Criminal Minds feels rushed in its Paramount+ era. The show's original CBS run gave each season at least 20 episodes. The current seasons run 10. Scott's argument was simply that some stories need more room — "its narrative demands more room to breathe," she wrote. Reasonable TV criticism. Nothing personal.
The next day Brewster came back and didn't hedge.
"Hi guys, I was mean to Shealyn Scott last night and I profoundly regret it," she posted. "Shame on me for insulting a human being for doing their job. I'm very sorry, Shealyn. And I'm sorry to those who follow me that you saw me behave like that. Turns out, last night, I sucked."
ScreenRant's editorial director Rob Keyes said he appreciated the apology and noted that the show's publicists passed along a personal note from Brewster, and the showrunner also reached out directly. But he didn't let the moment pass without making the broader point.
"Criticism of our work is fair game, but personal attacks on individual writers are neither productive nor warranted, especially when amplified to a large audience across social media," Keyes said. "The most frustrating aspect is that much of the reaction appeared to mischaracterize the article itself."
Why This Keeps Happening — and Why It Always Backfires
Brewster is far from the first actor to go after a critic online and immediately regret it. It's practically a recurring genre at this point.
The pattern is almost always the same. A performer sees coverage they don't like, fires off something in the heat of the moment, gets ratio'd into oblivion, and then apologizes — usually within 24 hours. What never seems to land in the moment is that attacking a critic doesn't make the criticism go away. It makes more people read it.
There's also the power dynamic problem. Brewster has hundreds of thousands of followers. Scott is a writer doing her job. When someone with a large platform directs that audience at a specific individual — especially someone with far less reach — it's not just venting. It's exposure to potential harassment at a scale the target can't control. That's true even when the original poster deletes the post. Screenshots exist.
The irony in this particular case is that Brewster's concern — that bad reviews hurt the people who make the show — is a real and legitimate anxiety. Productions do get cancelled. Jobs do disappear. But one ScreenRant piece arguing that 10 episodes feels too short for a 19-season procedural is not what kills a show. Criminal Minds has already been renewed for Season 20.
Brewster has been with the show since Season 2 in 2006 — twenty years of Emily Prentiss. That's a long time to care about something. The frustration is understandable. The way it came out wasn't.
She said so herself. Sometimes that's the whole story.
Curious for more stories that keep you informed and entertained? From the latest headlines to everyday insights, YourLifeBuzz has more to explore. Dive into what’s next.