Entertainment

This Actor Allegedly Hit A Sanders Supporter — Now He’s Canceling Public Appearances

Kaitlan Collins Contributor
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Wendell Pierce will no longer give the commencement speech at a college graduation after he was arrested for allegedly attacking a woman because she said she supported Bernie Sanders.

Wendell Pierce arrested

(Photo: Splash News)

Though the actor — who plays Detective William “Bunk” Moreland on “The Wire” — was scheduled to speak this Wednesday at Rutgers University-Newark, he told the school he no longer could Monday.

“This morning Rutgers University – Newark was informed by actor and humanitarian Wendell Pierce that in order to assure that commencement 2016 will be a celebration of the accomplishments of our students free of distractions, he is declining to join us and consequently must decline the conferral of an honorary degree,” the school posted on Facebook.

Wendell Pierce arrested

(Photo: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images)

Pierce was charged with simple battery after he got into an altercation with a woman and her boyfriend inside an Atlanta hotel around 3:30 a.m Saturday.

He got “upset when the woman declared her support for Bernie,” TMZ reports, “and became enraged, pushed the boyfriend and then went after his girlfriend — grabbing her hair and smacking her in the head.”

Pierce is an avid Hillary Clinton supporter. (RELATED: ‘The Wire’ Star Arrested For Attacking A Woman Who Said She Supports Bernie Sanders)