Actor Jeffrey Tambor has once again denied sexual harassment allegations against him but has admitted that he was difficult to work with on the set of “Transparent”.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 73-year-old actor, who was fired from the Amazon show show after transgender actor Trace Lysette and his former assistant Van Barnes accused him of sexual misconduct.
“I don’t want to characterize them. What I said was that she was a disgruntled assistant. I think that was generous of me. I dispute her account. I did raise my voice at times, I was moody at times, there were times when I was tactless. But as for the other stuff, absolutely not,” Tambor said.
Tambor, who twice won the Emmy for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series for his portrayal of Maura Pfefferman, said his obsession to play the character to the best of his ability made him rude and sometimes unbearable for his castmates. He claimed that he one yelled at show creator Jill Soloway.
“I drove myself and my castmates crazy. Lines got blurred. I was difficult. I was mean. I yelled at 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 apologised and everything, but still, I yelled at her. The assistant directors. I was rude to my assistant,” Tambor said.
“Sometimes I didn’t talk at all. 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,” he added.
Tambor claimed that before his firing he received an email from Soloway’s sister and writing producer Faith Soloway, suggesting allegations against him were part of a “coup” to have him ousted from the show.
“I can quote it verbatim because I’ve looked at it for five months,” he said.
“It said, We are in a coup. You are fucking fantastic. You have changed the world. We have changed the world. We will get through this. Love, love, love, Faith.'” he added.
On February 15, Tambor was fired from “Transparent” by creator Soloway, who sent him a text and followed it up with a phone call.
Tambor will return for the next season of hit Netflix show “Arrested Development”.
