Arrested Development's Jessica Walter talks harassment in revealing NYT interview

Tambor was officially dismissed from Amazon series Transparent earlier this year - a role for which he won two Emmys - after facing a series of sexual harassment allegations relating to his time on the show. It was confirmed earlier this month that Tambor will appear in the new season of Arrested Development despite the allegations.

The sit-down interview featured the show’s cast members, including Jason Bateman, David Cross, Alia Shawkat, Tony Hale, Will Arnett and Tambor himself.

Walter, who plays the character Lucille Bluth, referred to occasions where Tambor had berated her verbally during filming. She did say, however, that she was willing to forgive Tambor, who has apologised for his behaviour.

“I have to let go of being angry at him. He never crossed the line on our show, with any, you know, sexual whatever, “ she said in the NYT interview. “Verbally, yes, he harassed me, but he did apologize. I have to let it go. And I have to give [Tambor] a chance to, you know, for us to be friends again,” to which Tambor replied, “Absolutely”.

“I had a temper and I yelled at people and I hurt people’s feelings,” Tambor admitted. “And that’s unconscionable, and I’m working on it and I’m going to put that behind me, and I love acting.”

Jason Bateman appeared dismissive of the claims of harassment, assigning Tambor’s behaviour to benign industry expectations. “Again, not to belittle it or excuse it or anything, but in the entertainment industry it is incredibly common to have people who are, in quotes, ‘difficult’,” Bateman said, seeming to excuse the harassment.

He added: “Because it’s a very amorphous process, this sort of shit that we do, you know, making up fake life. It’s a weird thing, and it is a breeding ground for atypical behavior and certain people have certain processes.”

The only other female in the room, Alia Shawkat, felt aggrieved by Bateman's comments: “But that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. And the point is that things are changing, and people need to respect each other differently.”

During the course of the heated interview, the other male actors in the room seemed similarly dismissive as Bateman, doing their best to place Tambor’s actions in a context and vying to support the actor through his allegations.

Season Five of Arrested Development will return May 29, premiering on Netflix.