How Backstage Drama Got Martin Canceled After Just 5 Seasons

Updated  Sep 22, 2026, 9:30 PM EDT

Cher Thompson is a Senior Staff Writer at Screen Rant, where she covers everything from explosive reality TV moments to cast interviews about the twists and turns of scripted dramas. With a background in creative writing, marketing, and teaching, Cher knows how to spot both the storytelling genius and the guilty pleasures in pop culture. Her work blends wit with insight, making readers feel like they’re chatting with a friend who just happens to know way too much about TV.

Given how popular Martin Lawrence's self-titled sitcom was, there are a lot of questions about why Martin ended as early as it did. The answer is that backstage drama caused the hit show to be canceled after only five seasons. Martin was part of a wave of 1990s sitcom hits starring Black leads, including The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and Living Single. The show helped Lawrence become a household name before starring in hit films like Bad Boys. Though he's dealt with his share of struggles, he has a loyal fanbase, but it still didn't stop Martin from being canceled.

The second-biggest name to come out of the Martin TV show was Tisha Campbell, who played Martin's girlfriend, Gina. She was the female lead on My Wife and Kids opposite Damon Wayans for five seasons, then recurred on All of Us and Everybody Hates Chris. A lot of why Martin worked was the charming but sometimes stressful relationship between Martin and Gina, but a big reason the show didn't last longer was due to strife between the two actors behind the scenes. While backstage drama isn't always cause for a series to end, Martin suffered from a fairly difficult fate.

Martin Lawrence Was Allegedly Inappropriate Toward Tisha Campbell On Martin’s Set

The main reason Martin was canceled, according to contemporary reports, was that by season 5, the relationship between Martin Lawrence and Tisha Campbell had completely fallen apart. The two had known each other before the show, starring in House Party together, and according to Campbell, Lawrence would constantly subject her to unwanted sexual advances, which only got worse once she got engaged (via People). Campbell also alleged that Lawrence would grope her during sex scenes, to the point where she asked the writing team not to write them anymore.

Martin Main Cast
Martin Lawrence	Martin Payne
Tisha Campbell	Gina Waters-Payne
Carl Anthony Payne II	Cole Brown
Thomas Mikal Ford	Thomas "Tommy" Strawn
Tichina Arnold	Pamela "Pam" James

Lawrence, an executive producer on Martin, also allegedly was verbally abusive to the rest of the cast, sometimes threatening to get them fired. By Martin season 5, Campbell had enough, and filed a sexual harassment lawsuit against Lawrence, resulting in Gina sitting out much of the season. The lawsuit was eventually settled, and Campbell returned for Martin's final episodes, but under the condition she did not have to share scenes with Lawrence, making for an incredibly awkward and largely regrettable series finale.

The Martin Cast Has Since Made Up

There Was A 2024 Emmy Awards Reunion

Things seemed to finally get fixed between the cast when Martin Lawrence said that things were good between him and Tisha Campbell. In an interview with GQ in 2020, Lawrence talked about the lawsuit and said "None of that was true. It was all a lot of bullsh*t." He then went on to say there was no reason for them to talk about it since "it just didn't happen." Lawrence also said that the show wasn't canceled and that he decided to leave the show because of the controversy, who he then said he has "nothing but love for."

This came as a shock to Campbell because she thought that she and Lawrence had come to terms, only to hear him calling her lawsuit claims a lie again decades later. She appeared on the daytime talk show The Talk and said his comments surprised her, but she couldn't say much about it because of a "gag order." Lawrence did say that she called him and he told her that people were trying to "bring up the past" (via Essence). This led to 2022 when Campbell said she "worked really hard to reconnect, to forgive" Lawrence (via BET).

In 2024, the Martin cast reunited at the 75th Emmy Awards. They showed up in a replica of the show's apartment and acted like they were there to accept an Emmy when they were actually there to present one. This reunion included Martin Lawrence, Tisha Campbell, Tichina Arnold, and Carl Anthony Payne II. Campbell quipped they should have won an Emmy in their run, and then they presented the award for Lead Actor in a Comedy Series to Jeremy Allen White (The Bear).

Martin Lawrence's Bad Boys 4 Also Found Controversy

Martin was not the only project from Martin Lawrence that was controversial, as Bad Boys: Ride or Die was also put in jeopardy. However, this was because of Will Smith's actions, not his own. After the success of Bad Boys For Life, Bad Boys 4 seemed inevitable until the moment Smith slapped Chris Rock at the 2022 Oscars. Chris Rock hosted the 2022 Oscars, and while on stage, he made a joke concerning Jada Pinkett Smith's alopecia. Will then took to the stage to slap Chris Rock in the middle of the ceremony.

Though the action had reverberating consequences, the Bad Boys actor still won an Oscar for his performance in King Richard. It was unfortunate, as the Oscars had several triumphs that were completely overshadowed by Smith's actions. It also changed the perception of Smith in Hollywood with many people questioning whether his movie career would survive the scandal.

In the end, though Bad Boys: Ride or Die was delayed, it arrived in theaters in 2024 with both Lawrence and Smith reprising their roles. While the Oscar incident was still discussed, and even vaguely referenced in the movie, the fourth movie in the action franchise went on to be a massive hit at the box office, suggesting Smith's career was not affected in the way many people assumed.

What The Martin Cast Has Done Since The Show Ended

Martin helped serve as Martin Lawrence's big breakout project in Hollywood, and despite the show ending in season 5, its success helped to launch Lawrence's movie career, which soon followed. Shortly after the end of the series, Lawrence appeared alongside fellow comedian Eddie Murphy in the comedy Life. He then went on to lead his own comedies, including Blue Streak, Big Momma's House, and Black Knight. However, while Lawrence was obviously the biggest star from the series, the rest of the cast of Martin went on to solid careers.

Tisha Campbell quickly found more success in the sitcom world, once again starring opposite a comedian when she joined Damon Wayans in My Wife and Kids. Like Martin, the sitcom lasted for five seasons and earned acclaim for the cast. She also guest-starred on shows like Everybody Hates Chris, Grey's Anatomy, and Empire.

Tichina Arnold had a standout role on Martin as Pamela "Pam" James, but that also proved to only be the beginning of her career. Like Campbell, Arnold also found a lot of success in the sitcom world after Martin as she played the family matriarch in Everybody Hates Chris, and she will be reprising her role in the upcoming animated remake. Arnold also appeared in movies like Wild Hogs and Big Momma's House opposite Lawrence. Cast members Carl Anthony Payne II and Thomas Mikal Ford, who played Cole and Tommy respectively on Martin, also went on to succeed in television. Payne was a series regular on George Lopez, Rock Me Baby, and Tyler Perry's Young Dylan, while Ford was in New York Undercover.