David Cross spoke out about the controversial Arrested Development cast interview in which Jason Bateman defended Jeffrey Tambor while seemingly dismissing Jessica Walter’s harassment claims against him.
Cross, 54, spoke to The New York Times on Wednesday, May 23, alongside Tambor himself and other costars Bateman, Walter, Tony Hale, Alia Shawkat and Will Arnett. The stand-up comedian addressed the awkward interview after Bateman faced backlash for seemingly writing off Walter’s feelings.
“So I will unequivocally apologize to Jessica. I’m sorry that we behaved the way that we behaved,” he told Gothamist on Thursday, May 24. “Whatever the criticisms are, I will own up. I don’t even know what they are, as I said, I saw the initial thing but I jumped off [social media] at the behest of various people.”
He also tweeted that wife Amber Tamblyn — who told a Twitter troll that she’s mad at him — specifically advised him to stay off Twitter and he’s “apologized to Jessica in private (the way I prefer to conduct apologizes to people.)”
Cross’ vow to ask Walter for forgiveness comes hours after Hale, 47, revealed that he already reached out to the actress to “personally apologize.”
“Arrested Development is one of my families,” Hale tweeted on Thursday. “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 stars made headlines on Wednesday after discussing the sexual harassment allegations against their former costar Tambor, who portrayed Bateman’s dad and Walter’s husband on the sitcom. After Walter claimed that Tambor, who was sitting near her during the interview, verbally abused her on set, Bateman rushed to the Transparent alum’s defense.
“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 Ozark actor said. “It’s a weird thing and it is a breeding ground for atypical behavior and certain people have certain processes.”
As Walter began crying, Hale chimed in, “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 quipped back, “But not like that, not like that. That was bad.”
Bateman has since apologized for his comments, tweeting on Thursday, “I sound like I’m condoning yelling at work. I do not. It sounds like I’m excusing Jeffrey. I do not. It sounds like I’m insensitive to Jessica. I am not.”
He added: “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 … I’m incredibly embarrassed and deeply sorry to have done that to Jessica.”
