Jessica Walter Says Jeffrey Tambor Verbally Harassed Her on 'Arrested Development' Set

In a raw sit-down with the New York Times, the cast of “Arrested Development” addressed the allegations against co-star Jeffrey Tambor, with Jessica Walter saying that he had verbally harassed her.

Walter said that she had to “let go of being angry at him,” adding, “He never crossed the line on our show, with any, you know, sexual whatever. Verbally, yes, he harassed me, but he did apologize. I have to let it go. And I have to give you a chance to, you know, for us to be friends again.”

“But it’s hard because honestly — Jason [Bateman] says this happens all the time,” she went on. “In like almost 60 years of working, I’ve never had anybody yell at me like that on a set. And it’s hard to deal with, but I’m over it now.”

The cast, including Bateman, Tony Hale, David Cross, and Tambor himself, continued to have a frank discussion about Tambor’s behavior. When Hale noted that “we’ve all had moments,” Walter responded, “But not like that, not like that. That was bad.”

“Arrested Development” returns to Netflix for its fifth season on May 29. Though forced out of Amazon’s “Transparent,” Tambor is coming back for the latest installment of the Netflix revival — and is even in the Emmy race for the comedy.

Tambor was first accused of sexual harassment on the “Transparent” set by his former assistant, Van Barnes, at the end of 2017. An actor on the show, Trace Lysette, leveled another accusation at Tambor later. While Tambor denied the allegations, Amazon decided to remove him from “Transparent” following an investigation.

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter earlier this month, Tambor did admit to being “difficult” and “mean” on the “Transparent” set, while still denying any sexual harassment.

“I yelled at Jill [Soloway] — she told me recently she was afraid of me,” he told the publication. “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.”

In that same interview, Tambor acknowledged a “blowup” with Walter on “Arrested Development,” adding that he “profusely apologized” for it later.

Variety has reached out to Walter and Tambor’s reps for further comment.

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