The ‘Arrested Development’ Cast Made Jessica Walter Cry, And The Audio Is Hard To Listen To

In an interview with the New York Times published yesterday, the cast of Arrested Development stunned some with an occasionally emotional and intense exchange that included star Jessica Walter opening up about Jeffrey Tambor verbally harassing her on set. Tambor, who has been plagued by a series of allegations ranging from verbal abuse to sexual misconduct from the set of Transparent that resulted in his firing, was welcomed back for Season 5 of Arrested Development with open arms – but it turns out he’d had outbursts working on this show, too.
During the sit down with Walter, Tambor, Jason Bateman, David Cross, Alia Shawkat, Will Arnett, and Tony Hale, things got emotional as the group discussed the “elephant in the room”: the allegations against Tambor. Tambor admitted earlier this month that he had lashed out at Walter, and when the incident was brought up during their chat with the Times, Tambor was quick to admit he’d done wrong – and the male cast members were quick to defend him.

The audio recording of this exchange, in which Walter gets audibly choked up, is included in the Times piece – and it’s difficult to listen to. The audio was posted separately on Twitter, which you can hear below:

Here is the exchange from the Times in full:

BATEMAN: 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.” And when you’re in a privileged position to hire people, or have an influence in who does get hired, you make phone calls. And you say, “Hey, so I’ve heard X about person Y, tell me about that.” And what you learn is context. And you learn about character and you learn about work habits, work ethics, and you start to understand. Because it’s a very amorphous process, this sort of [expletive] 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.

SHAWKAT: But that doesn’t mean it’s acceptable. And the point is that things are changing, and people need to respect each other differently.

WALTER [THROUGH TEARS]: Let me just say one thing that I just realized in this conversation. I have to let go of being angry at him. 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. [Turns to Tambor.] And I have to give you a chance to, you know, for us to be friends again.

TAMBOR: Absolutely.

WALTER: But it’s hard because honestly — Jason says this happens all the time. 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. I just let it go right here, for The New York Times.

The cast seemed to get back into better spirits during the rest of their chat, but the damage was done. Bateman’s lengthy tirade in defense of Tambor’s behavior – and diminishing of Walter’s experience – did not sit well with many. The actor wound up taking to Twitter early this morning to apologize.

Arrested Development Season 5 drops on Netflix May 29.