The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
‘Arrested Development’ stars stand by Tambor
LOS ANGELES — The creator and executive producer of “Arrested Development” acknowledges that some people will not like his decision to keep Jeffrey Tambor on the show after allegations of sexual misconduct surfaced last October.
“Good people will find this offensive,” explained Mitchell Hurwitz. “I, too, get worked up when I hear about Harvey Weinstein and other people who have taken advantage of people. But I also believe very strongly that we don’t want to live in a world where accusations ruin people’s lives. We have tried that as a human race and it doesn’t always, doesn’t work out great, you know? So accusations are very different than proof and, you know, we obviously are going to support people that haven’t done, that haven’t been proved guilty.”
The “Arrested Development” cast unanimously supported the 73-year-old actor at the Los Angeles premiere Thursday for the cult comedy’s new season.
“We are a family and it’s great to have everybody in the family here,” said costar Will Arnett.
Tambor denies the misconduct claims that led to his firing on Amazon’s “Transparent” earlier this year.
“All I know about is ‘Arrested Development’ and he’s always just been incredible with us and I’m really looking forward to seeing him tonight,” Jason Bateman said.
“My experience with Jeffrey has been nothing but respectful,” echoed Tony Hale. “And he is such a funny man. He’s so talented and he’s an integral part of the show and just my experience has been nothing but respectful.”