Not even a year after the banishing of some of Hollywood’s most deplorable men, many of those ousted by the #MeToo movement are staging their comebacks. Louis C.K. is attending comedy clubs, Charlie Rose is testing the waters for a new show, and other disgraced bad men (Mario Batali and Matt Lauer included) are peeking around corners, wondering if the coast is clear for their return. But it’s former Transparent star Jeffrey Tambor who may be one of the first to make a full blown comeback.
In a lengthy interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the actor opened up about the sexual harassment allegations against him—conveniently released on the same day the trailer for season 5 of Arrested Development, which Tambor will be starring in, debuted. Tambor touched on the accusations that got him fired from the Amazon show back in February, saying “This is the first time I’ve talked about this, ever, and possibly the last time."
According to his interview with THR, the actor was surprised to find out he'd been fired, expecting “a slap on the wrist." He instead received a text from creator Jill Soloway on Feb. 15 telling Tambor he would not be returning to his role as transgender matriarch Maura Pfefferman. Tambor claimed Soloway initially backed him up, declaring the situation a “coup,” and that it was Amazon’s internal investigation that led to his ousting. He told THR the investigation lasted two days, spanning about 10 hours and involving his lawyers.
“I don’t want to characterize them,” the 73-year-old said of his accusers. “What I said was that she was a disgruntled assistant. I think that was generous of me. I dispute her account. I did raise my voice at times, I was moody at times, there were times when I was tactless. But as for the other stuff, absolutely not.”
The assistant he’s referring to is his former assistant Van Barnes who accused him, along with guest star Trace Lysette, of sexual harassment. During the interview, Tambor did admit to being explosive on set.
“I drove myself and my castmates crazy,” he said of his days working on set for Transparent. “Lines got blurred. I was difficult. I was mean. I yelled at Jill—she told me recently she was afraid of me. I yelled at the wonderful [executive producer] Bridget Bedard in front of everybody. I made her cry. And I apologized and everything, but still, I yelled at her. The assistant directors. I was rude to my assistant. I was moody. Sometimes I didn’t talk at all. And this is where the reader says, ‘So what?’ You know? ‘You’re coming in from the Palisades, you drive in, you get a good paycheck, you get to play one of the best roles in the world. So. What.’ But I was scared, because I was a cisgender male playing Maura Pfefferman. And my whole thing was, ‘Am I doing it right? Am I doing it right? Am I doing it right?’ To the point that I worried myself to death.”
Soloway told THR that she’d initially hoped the allegations were “a big misinterpretation—that one person’s harassment is another person’s dirty joke.” But later added that this is “not a simple case of did he do it or didn’t he do it. Nobody said he was a predator—they said he sexually harassed people. He made enemies, and I don’t think he realized he was making enemies. You have to be very, very careful if you’re a person in power and treat people very appropriately.”
He didn’t seem to offer up any kind of sincere apology in this interview—a quick search of the word “sorry” in the piece does not pull up any results—but Tambor did claim that he is trying to behave differently on set.
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