Jeffrey Tambor addresses 'Transparent' firing after sexual harassment claims: 'I'm not this guy'
Jeffrey Tambor is addressing his departure from Transparent, two years after he was fired amid sexual harassment allegations. Tambor, who won two Emmys playing Maura Pfefferman on the Amazon dramedy, apologized for his behavior Wednesday on Gilbert Gottfried’s Colossal Show.
"So regarding how I left the show, I just want to make it really, really clear for your listeners out there that I'm not this guy," Tambor began on the SiriusXM show. "I in no way ever, ever intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable."
Tambor was accused of harassing three women, including his former assistant and transgender actress Van Barnes, Transparent actress Trace Lysette, who is also transgender, and makeup artist Tamara Delbridge. Barnes claimed the 75-year-old actor watched her sleep naked. Tambor denied the allegations and after his firing called Amazon's investigation "deeply flawed."
Months later, Tambor admitted to the Hollywood Reporter he was "difficult" on set. "Lines got blurred," he said, revealing he yelled at the crew. "I was mean." Tambor said his obsessive determination to accurately portray Maura, a transgender character, brought out the worst in him. He praised his former cast in the new interview.
"This cast was amazing," he declared. "It was sort of raucous, it was wonderful and irreverent and loving and personal and, you know, we told personal stories and I got to be Jeffrey and I got to play Maura and it was vital for the [LGBTQ] community, I'm so proud of it."
Tambor continued, "Regarding how I left the show, I just want to say, I never, ever, ever, ever intended to make anyone feel uncomfortable. Ever. It's just not who I am."
The actor admitted to having "character defects," joking his wife of nearly 20 years, Kasia Ostlun, "has the list."
Tambor went back to talking about the cast, explaining, "We loved each other. We were irreverent. We were honest. We were vulnerable. We had stories that were very, very personal. We trusted one another. It was a set like — we were raucous, it was a set like no other."
However, Tambor said there were "instances" where his interaction "with these lovely people, could have been mistaken way other, way other, than how I intended." He said he has "profoundly" apologized.
"And I apologize now, if I made anyone, anyone feel vulnerable and I'm sorry," he added. "I'm sorry it ended the way it did, but I just wanted to say, you know, I have to say it, I'm so proud of playing Maura and part of the LGBT community and getting that important message out and it's a highlight of my life and I just can't let the day go and I can't leave this studio without saying something. And I love you guys."
In his May 2018 interview with THR, Tambor explained he had lifelong anger issues, but maintained he did not sexually harass anyone.
"I drove myself and my castmates crazy," he said. "Lines got blurred. I was difficult. I was mean. I yelled at [Transparent creator] Jill [Soloway] — 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."
Tambor continued, "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."
After his firing, Tambor's career didn't stall. He appeared in Netflix's revival of Arrested Development and has completed production on the animated film The Adventures of Drunky and Disney's Magic Camp, according to IMDB.
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