There’s a story making the rounds that actor Jeremy Piven has had to pull out of a Broadway play because of high mercury levels he associates with having eaten too much sushi. But it would appear this fish tale is beginning to unravel.

Now stories are percolating that Piven is just trying to abandon a play that has been called a “sinking ship” and found a medical-grounds-loophole that could get him out of his contract. The word on the street is that it’s no coincidence that his doctor says he’ll be back in shape to act again by February or early March— hmmm that’s when the new season of Entourage will begin filming (interesting timing; Piven was under contract on Broadway until February 22.)

And who is his doctor? Well, he too has been called “fishy,” the former body builder turned celebrity physician and motivational speaker has been a pitch man for muscle-building health supplements and has reportedly been hauled into court four times for allegedly faking lab results so companies that paid him could promote ephedra as a diet supplement.

And today environmental lobbying groups latched on to the story and are trying to make hay with it but they are quickly finding that they may have hitched their cart to the wrong horse. As it turns out the play’s investors aren’t buying the diagnosis and may call in their own doctor to get a “second opinion.” Now, wouldn’t that be something if producers, who were paying Piven $15,000 a week, decide to sue and it comes out in court that this questionable diagnosis was a ploy? Talk about having egg on your face. I hope those activists have more faith in Piven’s claims than the New York Times whose sarcastic headline reads, “Actor Jeremy Piven to Enter Sushi Rehab.”