Jeffrey Tambor has announced plans to leave ‘Transparent’, after two sexual misconduct allegations.
The first was made by his former personal assistant earlier this month and last week, Tambor’s co-star Trace Lysette also alleged that the actor behaved inappropriately “multiple” times.
In light of Trace’s statement, Tambor denied knowingly being a “predator”, stating (via Variety):“I am deeply sorry if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being sexually aggressive or if I ever offended or hurt anyone.
“But the fact is, for all my flaws, I am not a predator and the idea that someone might see me in that way is more distressing than I can express.”
Following speculation over the future of ‘Transparent’, Tambor has now issued a second statement, in which he explains that he doesn’t see how he can return to the show.
“Playing Maura Pfefferman on ‘Transparent’ has been one of the greatest privileges and creative experiences of my life,” it reads (via the BBC).
“What has become clear over the past weeks, however, is that this is no longer the job I signed up for four years ago.
“I’ve already made clear my deep regret if any action of mine was ever misinterpreted by anyone as being aggressive, but the idea that I would deliberately harass anyone is simply and utterly untrue.
“Given the politicised atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to ‘Transparent’.”
Tambor has won two Emmys and a Golden Globe for his portrayal of Maura in the series, while the show itself also triumphed in the Best Television Series category at the 2017 Golden Globes.
The news has left many fans querying the future for ‘Arrested Development’ as season five of the hit comedy is due to arrive in Netflix in early 2018:
And now all eyes turn to how Netflix handles Arrested Development. https://t.co/AUfZPejfpF
I wonder what this means for Arrested Development season 5… @netflix https://t.co/ompn9jHRS2
The good news is that the 5th season of #ArrestedDevelopment is done. The bad news is that it may be shelved because of #JeffreyTambor
When contacted by HuffPost UK, a Netflix spokesperson said they had no comment at this time.