Netflix has decided to cancel Arrested Development‘s U.K. press tour. Netflix released a statement on Thursday saying, “We had planned to have most of the Arrested Development cast in London this week to support the launch of the new season and meet fans. At this time we have decided not to move ahead with promotional activity in the U.K. but hope to bring the cast back at another time.”
The interviews were meant to promote the upcoming season; however, because of the New York Times cast interview, started a social media outrage. During the interview Jessica Walters was in tears after talking about the alleged verbal harassment that she got from her colleague Jeffery Tambor. Fellow star Jason Bateman said it was “part of [Tambor’s] process.” Which both Walters and Alia Shawkat disagree with.
Bateman said in the interview on Wednesday, “Again, not to belittle it or excuse it or anything, but in the entertainment industry it is incredibly common to have people who are, in quotes, ‘difficult.’ Because it’s a very amorphous process, this sort of [expletive] that we do, you know, making up fake life. It’s a weird thing, and it is a breeding ground for atypical behavior, and certain people have certain processes.”
Watlers told The Times, “In … almost 60 years of working, I’ve never had anybody yell at me like that on a set. And it’s hard to deal with, but I’m over it now.”
On Thursday Bateman released a series of tweets apologizing for his comments and realizing that he made a mistake. Here are the tweets:
Arrested Development returns for its fifth season on Netflix. It will be available on May 29th.