I was, however, more than a little surprised to see that Jeffrey Tambor (George Bluth), who had been let go from Transparent due to sexual harassment allegations, was included on the roster. It turns out that Mr. Tambor’s bad behavior was not isolated to his work on the Transparent set (surprise!), and included an incident in which Jeffrey Tambor unloaded on Jessica Walter (Lucille Bluth) on the Arrested Development set. When the cast sat down with the New York Times to talk the new season and the topic of Mr. Tambor’s past behavior came up, it became clear that the men were there to excuse Mr. Tambor’s behavior while leaving Ms. Walter out to dry.
But I have news for you, assholes: Jessica Walter is not here to do your emotional labor.
Jessica Walter is not here to have her experiences downplayed so you can feel better about welcoming back a cast member with a dubious track record
WALTER: Oh! You’ve never yelled at me.
BATEMAN: Not to belittle what happened.
WALTER: You’ve never yelled at me like that.
BATEMAN: But this is a family and families, you know, have love, laughter, arguments — again, not to belittle it, but a lot of stuff happens in 15 years. I know nothing about “Transparent” but I do know a lot about “Arrested Development.” And I can say that no matter what anybody in this room has ever done — and we’ve all done a lot, with each other, for each other, against each other — I wouldn’t trade it for the world and I have zero complaints.
Fun fact: saying “not to belittle it” then belittling it? That’s bullshit. Also bullshit? Having “zero complaints” because you weren’t the target of any abuse.
Jessica Walter is not here to legitimize the fucked up dynamics of your workplace
BATEMAN: Not to say that you know, you [Walter] had it coming. But this is not in a vacuum — families come together and certain dynamics collide and clash every once in a while. And there’s all kinds of things that go into the stew so it’s a little narrow to single that one particular thing that is getting attention from our show.
Jesus Christ, Jason! That is exactly what you are saying! You are normalizing an abusive type of behavior, while implying this “one narrow thing” is no big deal.
Jessica Walter is not here to absorb your man-baby rage because you are unable to adult in your job
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.
There is no excuse for this kind of behavior, and I am fucking sick of white men getting a pass to be an asshole because “genius.” You are not performing life-saving neurosurgery or storming the beaches at Normandy, you are an actor on a goddamn television show. Get some fucking perspective. Also, again with this “not to belittle it” nonsense.
CROSS: You know, one thing that Jeffrey has said a number of times that I think is important, that you don’t often hear from somebody in his position, is that he learned from the experience and he’s listening and learning and growing. That’s important to remember.
Learning and growing? Are your fucking kidding me with this, David? Jeffrey Tambor is 73 YEARS OLD! This is shit you learn in kindergarten. That is what’s “important to remember.”
Jessica Walter is not here to absolve you of your bullshit
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.
This right here is not her fucking job. Because it wasn’t “sexual whatever”? That’s the bar? NONSENSE. But here she is, abandoned by a pack of Olympic-level apologists – her colleagues – to be the bigger person WHILE SHE IS IN TEARS.
Jessica Walter is not here to keep your peace
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.
“Just let is go right here“? You mean to tell me this wasn’t addressed before Jeffrey Tambor was hired back to work on the show? Clearly, Arrested Development show runners neglected to make this right internally before setting the cast loose to communicate externally. They did not protect Jessica on set, and have once again neglected her safety by forcing her absorb and dispel the tension CAUSED BY JEFFREY FUCKING TAMBOR’S ACTIONS. THIS SHIT IS NOT HER JOB. This is the bullshitiest of all of the bullshit.
Attention #notallmen: This is what average, everyday throwing women under the bus looks like. If we’ve learned anything from #metoo and #timesup, it’s that abuse cannot thrive unless a bunch of #notallmen are willing to sit by and excuse it. I have lost a lot of respect for this cast, and for the leadership of this show, which is a drag because the first three seasons were amazing, and produced quotes that I still use daily. I’ll be watching how this is handled going forward. Get your shit together, and stop making your female team members do your emotional labor for you.
Arrested Development premieres May 29th on Netflix.
Did this interview piss you off? What the hell is up with Jason Bateman? Will you be watching the new season? What emotional labor have you had to do at your job? How much can a banana cost, Michael?
