In light of Judge Judy coming to an end after 25 seasons, the show’s 63-year-old bailiff, who’s been a staple on the show, learned he will not be joining Judith Sheindlin on her new series.
Entertainment Weekly (EW) reported that Petri Hawkins-Byrd will not be the bailiff on Sheindlin’s new show Judy Justice set to air on IMDb. He had been the magistrate’s only bailiff since the show aired in 1996.
She announced the upcoming series in March of last year on the Ellen Degeneres Show saying that Judge Judy would end in 2021.
Although the show ending wasn’t a surprise to Hawkins-Byrd, he told EW that he didn’t know he wouldn’t be on Judy Justice.
“My assumption is if you were going on to do something else, that you were at least going to ask me if I wanted to have the opportunity to audition for the role,” he explained.
The final season of Judge Judy ended in April. After the final episode, Hawkins-Byrd focused on caring for his spouse Makita Bond-Byrd, who was a producer on the show. She was undergoing brain surgery for a tumor and had gone through three rounds of chemotherapy. Doctors removed 95% of his wife’s tumor successfully.
Even though Hawkins-Byrd was focusing on his wife’s recuperation, he explained that it didn’t mean he didn’t want to join his former boss on her new project.
Sheindlin’s approach to her former sidekick was shady af.
“I didn’t have time to think about or ask about Judy Justice. It wasn’t until July that I called the judge and asked, ‘Hey, should I look for something else or am I included in the Judy Justice project?'” the bailiff recalled.
“She informed me I was not being asked to come along on the project. I didn’t inquire as to why, that’s her choice. But she did inform me that, fundamentally, I was priced out as the new bailiff on her new show. My salary would have been too much. I was curious: How would she know? She didn’t ask me. She didn’t give me an opportunity to have accepted a lower salary.”
He maintained that the two parted amicably, but the news left him feeling some kind of way– especially since he didn’t express an interest in moving forward with her.
“I don’t think she understood how confused and dismayed I was after being there for 25 years, from the beginning of her career, and not being at least given the opportunity to say whether or not I wanted to continue that relationship.”
Sheindlin addressed Hawkins-Byrd’s absence in a statement, telling EW, “Byrd is terrific and we had a great 25-year run. This is a whole new program with a whole new cast and an exciting energy.”
The bailiff-turned-actor is moving on and had a guest appearance on the long-running soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful. He has also had some voiceover roles.
“I just know that God has something else for me,” he said.
Judy Justice will premiere on Nov. 1 on Amazon’s IMDb TV. The series will air daily.
