TJ Miller has been quietly dropped as the spokesman for Mucinex after being accused of violent sexual assault.
The Silicon Valley star had voiced the brand’s mascot Mr Mucus since 2014, but was replaced during their Super Bowl slot by The Good Place actor Jason Mantzoukas.
Mucinex has also deleted its back-catalog of adverts featuring Miller’s voice from their YouTube channel.
TJ Miller (left at the premiere of The Emoji Movie and right with wife Kate) has been dropped as the spokesman for Mucinex, a job he has held since 2014
Reckitt Benckiser, which owns Mucinex, confirmed the change to IndieWire but refused to say what had motivated it.
It comes after Miller was accused by an ex, who spoke to The Daily Beast as ‘Sarah’, of punching and choking her during sex while they were dating at George Washington University.
While she admits not remembering the full encounter, she says she has a vivid memory of Miller ‘shaking me violently’ and punching her in the mouth.
The blow was so hard, she claims, that she woke up with a fractured tooth and a bloodied lip.
Jason Mantzoukas took over Miller’s former job in time for the brand’s Super Bowl advert
During a second encounter Sarah said Miller penetrated her with a beer bottle and anally penetrated her without her consent, though admits he stopped when she asked him to.
He also choked her without checking first, she says, fastening his hands so tight that she let out a noise loud enough to prompt her flatmates to check on her.
She confided in her flatmates about the incident the following day, she said, one of whom confirmed her version of events to The Daily Beast.
A year later, when she had processed the event and been to counseling, Sarah reported the incident to campus police, avoiding the actual police because she felt they would not take her claim seriously after so long.
As a result the incident was dealt with entirely in student court, with authorities eventually telling Sarah the incident ‘had been resolved’.
Exactly what the resolution entailed is unclear, and the university would not expand on it citing privacy laws, though Miller was allowed to graduate in 2003.
Miller and his wife Kate issued a joint statement after the Beast article was published calling the allegations ‘false’ and suggesting ‘Sarah’ had only brought them forward out of jealously after their relationship became public.
The statement went on to accuse Sarah of undermining ‘the important movement to make women feel safe coming forward about legitimate claims against real known predator.’
Miller voiced the Mucinex mascot, Mr Mucus. The brand confirmed the switch, but would not give the reasons behind it