Judge Judy's longtime bailiff Petri Hawkins Byrd: Judy Sheindlin "didn't ask me" to join Judy Justice

Entertainment Weekly

Viewers took notice of Byrd's absence when Sheindlin's new IMDb TV court show's trailer featured a new bailiff. Byrd, who was Judge Judy's bailiff during the show's entire 25-year run, says he was never approached about joining the new show. Byrd tells EW after production wrapped in April, he turned his attention to his wife, Makita Bond-Byrd, a longtime Judge Judy producer who was scheduled for brain surgery. "I didn't have time to think about or ask about Judy Justice," says Byrd, whose wife just completed her third round of chemotherapy. As Byrd notes, the final season was taped remotely with him and the crew in Los Angeles and Sheindlin in New York City because of the pandemic. It wasn't until July that Byrd asked Sheindlin directly about his future. "She informed me I was not being asked to come along on the project," he says, adding: "My assumption is if you were going on to do something else, that you were at least going to ask me if I wanted to have the opportunity to audition for the role."