‘Criminal Minds’ Star Paget Brewster Apologizes After Backlash Over ‘Gross’ Comment

Paget Brewster has apologized after publicly attacking a TV journalist on social media, which drew instant backlash from her followers.

The Criminal Minds: Evolution star caused a stir on Saturday (July 20) when she ranted against ScreenRant’s Shealyn Scott on X. “Hello critic Shealynn Scott. You’re young. You don’t know that bad pics and bad reviews can lead to 350 people losing their jobs,” Brewster wrote in the now-deleted post. “Sell vintage. Work at a shelter. Do something better than what you do now. Because right now you suck.”

Brewster was responding to a feature written by Scott, which criticized several changes the show has made since transitioning from broadcast to streaming. The article, which was mostly positive about the show itself, mostly took issue with the reduced episode order, which prevents storylines from being fleshed out.

Fans blasted Brewster’s remarks, with one X user writing, “Publicly telling a young woman that she sucks because she wrote an article criticizing the 10 episode structure of Criminal Minds is kinda gross. No Paget Brewster, right now you suck.”

“I love Paget so much but this is an insane response to someone just (rightly) criticizing the way shows have all become like 10 eps a season and essentially just saying they want MORE of your show,” said another.

ScreenRant’s branding & PR director, Rob Keyes, also responded, writing, “It wasn’t even a review. It was a feature about how the show would benefit from more episodes due to its storytelling.”

Hi guys, I was mean to Shealyn Scott last night and I profoundly regret it. Shame on me for insulting a human being for doing their job. I’m very sorry, Shealyn. And I’m sorry to those who follow me that you saw me behave like that. Turns out, last night, I sucked.

— paget brewster (@pagetpaget) June 21, 2026

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After the backlash, Brewster deleted the tweet and apologized the next day. “Hi guys, I was mean to Shealyn Scott last night and I profoundly regret it,” she wrote. “Shame on me for insulting a human being for doing their job. I’m very sorry, Shealyn. And I’m sorry to those who follow me that you saw me behave like that. Turns out, last night, I sucked.”

Scott also confirmed that the actress reached out to her personally to apologize. “To be clear, Paget also reached out privately to apologize to me!” the TV critic wrote on X. “Criminal Minds is still one of my all-time favorite shows, and I’m very excited to continue covering s19 (and hopefully beyond!).”

Criminal Minds aired for 15 seasons on CBS, ending its run in 2020. It was revived under the name Criminal Minds: Evolution in 2022, moving to the network’s streaming service, Paramount+. The move came with a decreased episode order, dropping from 20-plus episodes to just 10 per season.