Someone is out to destroy his career?

As many have heard, there is a rumor that Michael Pitt was fired from Boardwalk Empire. There were rumors that he was always coming to work late, that he would often arrive high/drunk, he was getting into fights with his co-workers, and forgetting lines. But, I came across something very interesting that I haven't heard.

I heard that the producers of BE wanted to write him out of the show, because Jimmy Darmody was more popular than Steve Buscemi's Nucky Thompson. Since they knew most people preferred to watch Jimmy's storylines instead of Nucky's, Buscemi and the producers were not happy about this. Which is why they decided to write Pitt out to make the lead more interesting. I also heard that Pitt & Buscemi butted heads on set. Pitt supposedly called Buscemi a hack. Buscemi demanded that he should be fired, and the producers agreed.

If this rumor is true, I wonder if Winter & Buscemi's team might have hurt him, underhandedly? It might explain why all of a sudden stories of Pitt being difficult were "leaked from 4chan." And also how the story of his agency "firing" him made it to Deadline.

I think this is possible, because his career has been stunted since he left the show. It does seem that his reputation isn't great within the industry. I really hope he doesn't have powerful enemies.