Arrested Development: Jessica Walter's Male Co-Stars Apologize For Excusing Jeffrey Tambor Abusive Behavior

By Ryan Schwartz
arrested development walter bateman hale Courtesy of Netflix

Jason Bateman is (sort of) walking back a series of defenses he made on behalf of Arrested Development costar Jeffrey Tambor.

Bateman found himself in hot water on Wednesday after the New York Times published an interview with the cast of the twice-revived comedy series, during which he vigorously defended Tambor, who had admitted to verbally harassing on-screen wife Jessica Walter in a previous interview with The Hollywood Reporter. Walter, who was reluctant to speak publicly on the incident, opened up to the Times, saying tearfully, "Verbally, yes, he harassed me, but he did apologize." She then went on to say that in "almost 60 years of working, I've never had anybody yell at me like that on a set," but has since chosen to forgive him.

In response, Bateman chalked Tambor's behavior up to the stresses of show business, attempting to explain that "it is incredibly common to have people [in the entertainment industry] who are... difficult." Fellow costar Alia Shawkat then interrupted to defend Walter, saying, "that doesn't mean it's acceptable [behavior]. And the point is that things are changing, and people need to respect each other differently."

In a series of tweets posted Thursday morning, Bateman insisted that he wasn't excusing Tambor's behavior, or being insensitve to Walter, but admitted he "completely underestimated the feelings of the victim... I'm incredibly embarassed and deeply sorry to have done that to Jessica." Read his response in full below:

Costar Tony Hale, who also spoke up on behalf of Tambor and claimed "we've all had moments," issued the following statement:

David Cross says he issued his apology to Walter in private, "the way [he prefers] to conduct apologies to people," and pointed to a new interview he did with Gothamist in the hopes that people might find it "edifying":

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