Tony Hale personally apologized to his Arrested Development costar Jessica Walter after he and other cast members appeared to defend Jeffrey Tambor’s alleged harassment of the actress in a New York Times interview.
“I have reached out to Jessica personally to apologize,” Hale, 47, tweeted on Thursday, May 24. “Arrested Development is one of my families. Regardless of my intentions, it is clear that my words, both said and unsaid, served to minimize Jessica’s pain and for that I am extremely sorry.”
The Netflix series’ cast made headlines on Wednesday, May 23, when they addressed harassment allegations made against Tambor. In particular, their comments about Walter’s claims that the former Transparent star, 73, verbally abused her on set seemed tone deaf to some.
Jason Bateman rushed to Tambor’s defense during the interview. “Again, not to belittle or excuse it or anything, but in the entertainment industry it is incredibly common to have people who are, in quotes, ‘difficult’ … Because it’s a very amorphous process, this sort of [expletive] that we do, you know, making up fake life,” the 49-year-old Ozark actor told the New York Times. “It’s a weird thing, and it is a breeding ground for atypical behavior and certain people have certain processes.”
Though the New York Times noted that Walter, 77, was speaking through tears at that point in the interview, Hale jumped in after previously remaining silent on the matter: “But I will say, to Jason’s point, we can be honest about the fact that — and not to build a thing — we’ve all had moments.”
Walter countered: “But not like that, not like that. That was bad.”
The Veep star responded: “Not like that. But I’m saying we’ve worked together 15 years, there has been other points of anger coming out.”
Bateman also apologized on Thursday after receiving backlash for his comments. “Based on listening to the NYT interview and hearing people’s thoughts online, I realize that I was wrong here. I sound like I’m condoning yelling at work. I do not. It sounds like I’m excusing Jeffery. I do not. It sounds like I’m insensitive to Jessica. I am not,” the actor tweeted. “In fact, I’m horrified that I wasn’t more aware of how this incident affected her. I was so eager to let Jeffrey know that he was supported in his attempt to learn, grow and apologize that I completely underestimated the feelings of the victim, another person I deeply love – and she was sitting right there!”
He continued: “I’m incredibly embarrassed and deeply sorry to have done that to Jessica. This is a big learning moment for me. I shouldn’t have tried so hard to mansplain, or fix a fight, or make everything okay. I should’ve focused more on what the most important part of it all is – there’s never any excuse for abuse, in any form, from any gender. And, the victim’s voice needs to be heard and respected. Period. I didn’t say that and instead said a bunch of other stuff and not very well. I deeply, and sincerely, apologize.”
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