While continuing to deny allegations of sexual harassment, Jeffrey Tambor reportedly has decided to leave his Emmy-winning role on the Amazon series “Transparent.”
“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,” the actor told Deadline.com on Sunday. “Given the politicized atmosphere that seems to have afflicted our set, I don’t see how I can return to ‘Transparent.’ ”
He added that playing the transgender Maura Pfefferman on the show “has been one of the greatest privileges and creative experiences of my life.”
“Transparent” was created by Lane Tech grad Jill Soloway, whose own father came out as transgender several years ago. She declined to discuss Tambor’s status during a Los Angeles panel discussion Saturday, saying she’d been asked to keep quiet while Amazon investigated the allegations.
Earlier this month, Van Barnes, a transgender former assistant to Tambor, claimed in a Facebook post that he had repeatedly propositioned her, made lewd comments and groped her.
On Thursday, transgender actress Trace Lysette alleged that Tambor pressed his body against hers in a sexually aggressive manner during filming and made inappropriate and unwanted sexual statements.
Lysette urged Amazon in her statement to “remove the problem and let the show go on.”
