Discovery Responds to Fan Petition to Re-Hire Mythbusters' Kari Byron—Will She Return to the Show?

After she and two other cast members were fired from the show, fans rallied to try and get them back. Did their petition work?

By Sydney Bucksbaum Sep 06, 2014 12:34 AMTags
Kari Bryon, MythBustersDiscovery Channel

When MythBusters fans found out that fan-favorite cast members Kari Byron, Tory Belleci and Grant Imahara were leaving the series last month, they didn't take the news quietly.

In fact, they're not standing for it at all.

Fans took to the Internet after Adam Savage and Jamie Hyneman announced the three cast members were leaving, and started a petition to re-hire Byron, the sole female on the show, as well as the two others. So far, the petition has earned more than 32,000 online signatures, and Discovery has noticed.

The network responded to the fan outrage of Byron's axing today in a statement. "We are all big fans of Kari as well as Tory and Grant and are looking for other projects where we can work with them," Discovery's statement says.

Unfortunately, that sounds like a pretty final "no" to the question of whether or not Byron will return to the show, but at least it shows that Discovery does support women in science, unlike what the petition claims.

"This is a huge step backward for Discovery," the petition reads. "As the main female Mythbuster, Kari inspired a generation of girls and showed them that they too had a place in the traditionally male-dominated world of science. While Adam and Jamie are amazing educators in their own right, Kari was what drew me and so many others to the show, year after year. It's also disappointing to see Grant, the sole person of color on the show, dropped as well. We already know that women and minorities often feel unwelcome in the sciences and discouraged from pursuing STEM studies and careers. Why is Discovery reinforcing these damaging stereotypes?"

At the end of last month, Byron, Belleci and Imahara exited Mythbusters after the Thursday, Aug. 21 episode of the hit Discovery program after almost a decade of being on the show. According to co-hosts Savage and Hynerman, letting the three cast members go was a part of the move to bring the series back to its "origins," with just the two of them.

Are you happy to hear that Discovery is actively trying to work with Byron, Belleci and Imahara on new projects, or would you rather see them return to Mythbusters?