Note to future How I Met Your Mother guest stars: don't make Neil Patrick Harris angry!
When Eric Braeden, 69, canceled a cameo appearance on the hit CBS show Thursday, series star Harris called the soap actor a "d-bag."
"The actor, (Robin's dad), agreed to a cameo, then last night bailed, saying the part wasn't 'substantial' enough," Harris tweeted to more than 1 million followers Friday. "We've recast with Ray Wise, a fantastic actor who makes any part 'substantial.' Super excited to welcome him to the family!"
But according to Braeden, he had good reason to pull out of the sitcom so abruptly: he only learned about the size of his role just before the taping, which he deemed unreasonable as he is currently recovering from hip surgery.
"Everyone knows that I'm exhausted," he tells Entertainment Weekly. "I was not about appear on a show for two lines, because that's what it amounted to."
Braeden says 37-year-old Harris, who welcomed twins Gideon and Harper with partner David Burtka in October, is being merely being overdramatic.
"His choice of words bothered me. It seems to me like a young whippersnapper, having seen himself on a few covers, who's received a few awards, is now suddenly suffering from the first signs of hubris," Braeden snapped. "I've been in the business for 50 years. I've seen people come and go and I'm still here."
After Harris learned of Braeden's recent surgery, he decided to apologize on Twitter before the feud escalated even further.
"Now I feel bad for the D-bag comment. Don't know the guy personally," he wrote. "I'm just fiercely protective of our show."
