‘Jury Duty’ Star Ronald Gladden On the Moment He Feared Would Get Him Kicked Out of Court

Ronald Gladden is reliving his Jury Duty experience. He and the other stars of Amazon Freevee’s comedic docuseries recently came together to record an exclusive cast commentary on the show. The special episodes hit the ad-supported streaming service on June 1. 

In the commentary on the first episode, the solar panel installer from San Diego reflects on one of the most memorable moments from the jury selection process in the fictional case of Hilgrove vs. Morris. Gladden, who believed he was participating in a documentary about a real trial, suggested to another potential juror that he might be able to get out of serving if he tells the judge he is racist. To his shock, Noah (played by Mekki Leeper) ran with the idea. 

Gladden says he was horrified as he watched Noah first declare that he was racist, then quickly apologize and backtrack. 

“I was told that would work,” Noah says in the episode. He then glances over at Ronald. 

“At this point, when you did this Noah, I literally thought that I was about to get kicked out of the courtroom too,” Gladden says. “I was like, this guy is going to rat me out and I’m not even going to make it on the jury. I literally thought I was going home this day.

He adds: “I literally was just trying to shrink into my seat.” 

Ronald Gladden hoped James Marsden would get picked for ‘Jury Duty’

In the commentary, Gladden also reveals that he hoped James Marsden – who plays a satirical version of himself as an entitled and self-involved Hollywood actor – would get picked for the jury. He says that was one reason he told the judge he wouldn’t find Marsden’s presence distracting if he was selected. 

“To be fair guys, full disclosure, I wanted to be on the jury, and if I was going to be there, obviously I wanted James to be there,” he says. But Gladden adds that he wasn’t thrilled when the actor’s paparazzi stunt ended up getting the entire jury sequestered. 

“Oh, I was so mad,” he tells the rest of the cast. “You can kind of see it in one of the videos that I was not happy.”

At the time, Gladden didn’t have a full picture of what being part of the show would involve. But he knew he wanted to be chosen for the jury. 

“Coming into it, I was kind of whatever. If I made the jury or I didn’t, it would have been whatever,” he says. “But after seeing all the crazy stuff that happened, I was like, ‘Yeah, I gotta be a part of this.’”

The cast commentary edition of Jury Duty releases on Amazon Freevee on June 1. In addition to Gladden, the episodes features behind-the-scenes anecdotes from James Marsden, Leeper, Cassandra Blair (Vanessa), Maria Russell (Inez), and Jury Duty director Jake Szymanski

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