Stanford Blatch, the beloved character played by the late Willie Garson, made a much-criticized exit from “And Just Like That” on Thursday. (Spoilers ahead.)Fans vented at the writers of the “Sex and the City” reboot for providing such a “shabby” and “classless” farewell for Stanny.According to outlets, Blatch was written off with a letter that he penned to pal Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) without a face-to-face goodbye.“Dearest Carrie, By the time you read this I’ll be in Tokyo. I couldn’t tell you ― not without crying. And you have had enough crying,” Blatch wrote, referring to Carrie mourning the recent death of husband Mr. Big (Chris Noth).Blatch’s husband, Anthony Marentino (Mario Cantone), said Stanford asked for a divorce and left to manage a teen TikTok star in Asia.“I don’t get it — we were so happy,” Anthony told Carrie in a slightly deluded take on their stormy relationship.Willie Garson is pictured with Sarah Jessica Parker earlier this year.Garson died of cancer in September. He was 57. By the time the show filmed the scene of Big’s funeral, Garson had shared with the cast that he was ill, the New York Post reported. Declining health made it impossible for him to continue on the show after that, eliminating the possibility of a planned emotional farewell between Stanford and Carrie, showrunner Michael Patrick King told TVLine.“That day was excruciating, to be in a fictional world of the loss of a life, but in the real world, of somebody that you knew was sick — that was his last day working with us,” Parker, a friend of Garson’s off screen, told Vulture.Here’s some reaction to his alter ego’s farewell.How hard is it for SATC / And Just Like That writers to give Willie Garson AKA Stanford Blatch a graceful and classy tribute and exit off the show? First, the way y’all put Samantha in a bad light, now Stanny??? This show is worse than the movies!— Kittie (@hvymetalgirl) December 24, 2021
Watched And Just Like That and while I appreciate how difficult it was to deal with the death of Willie Garson (on the heels of a major fictional character’s death), the way they dispatched Stanford Blatch was pretty shabby.— Brandon David Wilson (@Geniusbastard) December 23, 2021
Is this really how Stanford Blatch is being written out of #AndJustLikeThat wow. This series is pissing me off more and more every time i watch it. A little bit care and love should have been portrayed in his honour after all these years.— Tonya 🦋🍓 (@ton_87L) December 23, 2021