Jeremy Piven: Scarfing Down Criticism

Splash News Online

Jeremy Piven, 43, says that he's sick from mercury poisoning. Sick as a...fish if you will. Piven claims that his huge sushi consumption led to his illness, which is what he blames for pulling out of the Broadway production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow.

Some don't buy it. His co-stars had choice words for him at the time (playwright Mamet diagnosed that Piven "wants to be a thermometer"), and investors in the production are reportedly calling for an investigation into the legitimacy of Piven's claim.

The Entourage star didn't exactly look like he should be rolling an IV pole around with him when he showed up for the Golden Globes last night looking hale and hearty.

Piven also didn't help his case when he said that he had been sick for awhile, yet kept partying, as seen here at Club Citrine on November 2 in New York City after a Janet Jackson concert.

Granted, Jeremy does look a little under the weather, but if you can go to clubs, you should be able to make it to work the next day.

Investors are in an uproar because the show was about to recoup its $3.5 million investment right before Piven quit. And his name was filling the seats.

An understudy took over, and producers hope to have William H. Macy in the part of an unsavory showbiz type (Piven's stereotype) before the show closes.

Fox News caught up with the man who plays Ari Gold at the HBO Golden Globes party Sunday night, and Piven explained his illness.

"I was so sick for most of the run of the show. Some days I would sleep right until the time I had to go to the theater. I didn’t know what was wrong with me. I was exhausted. Finally, I went to a doctor at Greenwich Hospital in Connecticut just so it wouldn’t turn into a circus. He said, 'You’ve got to stop working.' My heart rate was 47. My mercury level was off the charts. I hadn’t had a real break in 20 years of acting."

Fishy or not?  Leave your take on Jeremy Piven in comments.