Entertainment / Jeremy Piven Piven Avoids Penalty for Broadway Absence By John Johnson, Newser Staff Posted Feb 26, 2009 9:54 PM CST Copied Actors Susan Sarandon, left, and Jeremy Piven arrive at the 15th Annual Screen Actors Guild Awards on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) Jeremy Piven has escaped punishment—at least for now—for bailing on the Broadway play Speed-the-Plow, reports Playbill. Piven insists he had to leave because of mercury poisoning, but the producers aren't buying it. The actor appeared before representatives of the Actors' Equity Association and the Broadway League at a grievance hearing today, and the panel failed to reach a unanimous vote needed for punishment. The producers can move ahead with an arbitration hearing, but they haven't said whether they will. (More Jeremy Piven stories.) Report an error