Thomas Sadoski came to Jessica Walter’s defense after she accused her Arrested Development costar Jeffrey Tambor of verbal harassment.
The cast of the sitcom sat down for an interview with The New York Times, in which they discussed the sexual harassment allegations made against Tambor, 73, on the set of his former Amazon series Transparent. During the chat, which was published on Wednesday, May 23, Walter, 77, began crying while claiming that Tambor had verbally abused her on the Arrested Development set. Their costar Jason Bateman then interjected to defend Tambor, but his comments were quickly criticized on social media by fans and Sadoski, who worked with Walter in the movie The Mimic.
“This is Jessica Walter. She is a national goddamned treasure,” the Life in Pieces star, 41, captioned a selfie with the actress via Instagram on Thursday, May 24. “It was an honor and a privilege to work with her. I don’t give a f–k who you think you are or how good you think you are or how awesome you think your buddy/daddy is: screaming at someone isn’t ‘part of the business.’ It’s bulls–t. It’s unhinged bulls–t behavior and it has NEVER been acceptable. It wasn’t cool in the 70’s or 80’s or whenthef–kever you ‘came up.’ It was bulls–t then, it is bulls–t now. And excusing that kind of behavior is pathetic. Just pathetic.”
Sadoski, who is married to Amanda Seyfried, continued, “I worked in s–tty greasy-spoon kitchens growing up: it wasn’t acceptable behavior THERE and most of us were on HEAVY DRUGS. It certainly isn’t acceptable for some man-baby millionaire to do on a cozy ass tv show set. And it is even less acceptable for his male cast-mates to excuse it away IN FRONT OF THE PERSON THAT IT HAPPENED TO….(wait for it)….WHILE SHE IS TRYING TO EXPLAIN HOW TRAUMATIZING THE EXPERIENCE WAS. What in the halfpenny f–k is happening?!”
Bateman has since responded to the backlash he faced for his defense of Tambor. “I realize that I was wrong here,” he tweeted 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. … I’m incredibly embarrassed and deeply sorry to have done that to Jessica. This is a big learning moment for me.”
Tambor was fired from Transparent in February, while Netflix recently confirmed that he will still appear in the upcoming fifth season of its Arrested Development revival. The actor has denied the sexual harassment allegations made against him. He said in the Times interview that he “profusely” apologized to Walter.
