Hallmark cuts ties with Lori Loughlin after college admissions scandal
The name Lori Loughlin has become synonymous with Hallmark over the years, through her starring role on When Calls the Heart, her series of Garage Sale Mysteries movies, and, of course, Hallmark Christmas flicks.
On Thursday, Hallmark opted to end that association.
The network announced that it was cutting ties with the Full House veteran in the wake of a college cheating scandal that has rocked the country. On Tuesday, Loughlin and Felicity Huffman were among the dozens of parents charged in the conspiracy, in which students were admitted to universities by posing as athletic department recruits or cheating on entrance tests. Loughlin was charged with conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services fraud.
“We are saddened by the recent news surrounding the college admissions allegations,” read the statement from Crown Media, which owns Hallmark Channel and Hallmark Movies & Mysteries. “We are no longer working with Lori Loughlin and have stopped development of all productions that air on the Crown Media Family Network channels involving Lori Loughlin including Garage Sale Mysteries, an independent third party production.”
Loughlin and her fashion designer husband Mossimo Giannulli are accused of paying $500,000 so their daughters, Olivia Jade, 19, and Isabella Rose, 20, would be classified as recruits to University of Southern California’s crew team, which would aid them in getting into the school. (Neither daughter rowed crew.) Loughlin surrendered to authorities on Wednesday and appeared in federal court in Los Angeles. A judge has set her bond at $1 million.
Loughlin was slated to appear in at least one Hallmark Christmas movie in 2019. She starred last year in Homegrown Christmas as well as the When Calls the Heart Christmas movie. She previously headlined 2016’s Every Christmas Has a Story and 2015’s Northpole: Open for Christmas.
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