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Jason Bateman Says He'll Try Not to Mansplain So Much
Jason Bateman Says He'll Try Not to Mansplain So Much
An interview with The New York Times gave the actor a platform for his lengthy defense of Jeffrey Tambor's treatment of women.
Jason Bateman is apologizing for being such a huge Jeffrey Tambor apologist that he mansplained away cases of verbal harassment against women.
Tambor was ousted from Amazon's Transparent after several transgender actresses and crewmembers on the show came forward with stories of sexual misconduct. Bateman and the entire cast of Arrested Development have supported Tambor, but when conversation during a New York Times interview turned to Tambor's admitted verbal harassment of colleagues, Bateman marshaled another defense.
The Times reporter had asked about Tambor admitting in another interview to having screamed at co-star Jessica Walter.
"Not to belittle what happened," Bateman began, taking the first stab at answering for the group, instead of letting Walter answer. Bateman said it's common for big stars to be temperamental, he argued that acting is a weird profession that creates weird atmospheres and emotions collide, and he said families have disagreements.
"This is a family and families, you know, have love, laughter, arguments -- again, not to belittle it, but a lot of stuff happens in 15 years," he said. "I know nothing about Transparent but I do know a lot about Arrested Development." Knowing "a lot about Arrested Development" seemed to give Bateman license to speak up -- a lot.
Even after Walter corrected him, speaking through tears, Bateman kept going. "Jason says this happens all the time. In like almost 60 years of working, I've never had anybody yell at me like that on a set."
Walter isn't the only woman who Tambor has admitted to verbally harassing. He attacked a number of people on the set of Transparent, he said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
After taking a moment to listen -- to outraged tweets about his behavior and to audio of the interview posted by The New York Times -- Bateman apologized in a series of tweets today.
\u201cBased on listening to the NYT interview and hearing people\u2019s thoughts online, I realize that I was wrong here. \nI sound like I\u2019m condoning yelling at work. I do not. \nIt sounds like I\u2019m excusing Jeffery. I do not.\nIt sounds like I\u2019m insensitive to Jessica. I am not.\nIn fact, I\u2019m-\u201d— Jason Bateman (@Jason Bateman) 1527157131
\u201c- horrified that I wasn\u2019t more aware of how this incident affected her.\nI was so eager to let Jeffrey know that he was supported in his attempt to learn, grow and apologize that I completely underestimated the feelings of the victim, another person I deeply love - and she was..\u201d— Jason Bateman (@Jason Bateman) 1527157169
\u201c... sitting right there!\nI\u2019m incredibly embarrassed and deeply sorry to have done that to Jessica. This is a big learning moment for me. \nI shouldn\u2019t have tried so hard to mansplain, or fix a fight, or make everything okay.\nI should\u2019ve focused more on what the most important...\u201d— Jason Bateman (@Jason Bateman) 1527157226
\u201c...part of it all is - there\u2019s never any excuse for abuse, in any form, from any gender. And, the victim\u2019s voice needs to be heard and respected. \nPeriod. \n\nI didn\u2019t say that and instead said a bunch of other stuff and not very well. \nI deeply, and sincerely, apologize.\u201d— Jason Bateman (@Jason Bateman) 1527157241
Although actress Alia Shawkat (Maeby Funke on Arrested Development) said in April, "What those victims said needs to be heard," so far, none of the cast members have apologized for disregarding the transgender women who say Jeffrey Tambor sexually harassed them on the set of Transparent.
