Jeremy Piven on Grievance: "Absurd and Outrageous"

The actor responds to the formal complaint filed by the producers of the Broadway play he withdrew from last month for medical reasons

Jeremy Piven won't be hugging it out with his former Broadway producers anytime soon.

The Entourage star's publicist Samantha Mast has issued a statement about the grievance filed yesterday by the producers of Speed-the-Plow, the play Piven exited last month due to high mercury levels in his system:

"The claims made by the producers of Speed-the-Plow are absurd and outrageous...He withdrew from the play due to medical necessity on the advice of his doctors, after he was hospitalized and warned by his physicians that enforced rest was necessary in order to avoid serious medical problems, including a heart attack."

Mast described Jeremy's symptoms as extreme fatigue, spacial problems, difficulty remembering his lines and maintaining his balance, and an alarmingly low resting heart rate. She said the forced withdrawal was an enormous personal disappointment for the 43-year-old three-time Emmy winner, since it was a "lifelong dream to perform on Broadway."

The statement went on to call the grievance "ironic" since Piven hasn't been paid his required salary and "has been defamed by the media by their false accusations."