Thursday, July 6, 2017 | 1 a.m.
LOS ANGELES — Daniel Dae Kim said his decision to leave "Hawaii Five-O" stemmed from a contract dispute.
In a Facebook post, the actor said he and CBS were unable to agree on contract terms, so he made the "difficult choice" to exit the series.
Kim, who played Chin Ho Kelly on the crime drama reboot, said the "path to equality is rarely easy," without elaborating. He was traveling Wednesday and unavailable, a spokeswoman said.
The departures from the show of Kim and Grace Park, who played Kono Kalakaua, were reported last week. Both had been with the show since it debuted in 2010 with Alex O'Loughlin and Scott Caan as, respectively, lawmen Steve McGarrett and Danny Williams.
"Daniel and Grace have been important and valued members of 'Hawaii Five-0' for seven seasons," CBS said in a statement Wednesday. "We did not want to lose them and tried very hard to keep them with offers for large and significant salary increases."
The network added that it has "tremendous respect" for the actors and hoped to work with them again.
In his post, Kim said as an Asian-American actor he knows first-hand how difficult it is to find opportunities, especially well-developed characters like Chin Ho.
Kim, who starred in ABC's "Lost," said he was grateful to CBS and the show's producers for having confidence he would bring the role to life.
He's looking at other acting projects, he said, and is producing ABC's upcoming series, "The Good Doctor."
"Hawaii Five-O," a remake of the 1968-80 series starring Jack Lord and James MacArthur, returns next season for its eighth year. It's produced by CBS Television Studios.
Join the Discussion:
Check this out for a full explanation of our conversion to the LiveFyre commenting system and instructions on how to sign up for an account.
Full comments policy