Alia Shawkat spoke out about the sexual harassment allegations against Jeffrey Tambor — and supports his accusers

After Jeffrey Tambor was officially fired from Transparent amid sexual harassment allegations by his former assistant and a former co-star, his Arrested Development co-star David Cross spoke out in support of the actor — seemingly on behalf of the cast.

While the actor claimed to not “speak for everybody” in February, Cross assumed the role of unofficial spokesperson for the Arrested Development cast when he claimed that a “number” of cast members from the series are standing with Tambor. He told amNew York, “I can’t speak for everybody, but I know there are a number of us who stand behind him — from the limited amount we know, we stand behind Jeffrey — and I am one of them.” 

But now Arrested Development star Alia Shawkat is speaking out about the allegations against Tambor, and it seems David Cross doesn’t speak for her.

The actress, who worked with Tambor on Transparent as well as Arrested Development, told IndieWire that while the allegations came as a “surprise” to her, she supported the actor’s accusers. She said, “I was surprised, obviously. I’ve known him since I was very young. I support the voices of the victims though, whatever they said.”

Citing the investigations done by Transparent and Amazon that ultimately led to Tambor’s dismissal, Shawkat revealed that it’s a “strange” experience for so many actresses to be asked about co-stars allegations, especially when they don’t really have a “personal understanding” of the situation.

"Transparent and Amazon did their own investigations," Shawkat said. "It’s being handled the way it’s being handled. It’s very…strange. I know a lot of actresses [who] work with people…this is happening to, [but] we don’t have personal understandings of it…And I worked with him on two shows, too, so it’s kind of following me around. I hope it’s all handled legally, the way it should be, and taken into consideration."

And Shawkat made sure to keep the focus on Tambor’s accusers when asked about her thoughts on the allegations.

She pointed out that while she’s worked with Tambor and knows him personally, it is most important to listen to what the women speaking out against him have to say. She said, “I’m an actor, I worked with him. It’s not about sharing my personal opinion of him…What those victims said needs to be heard just as much. And that’s the facts, that’s just the truth of it. And they can’t be squashed down because of something else. But it is also, you know, it is sad, too.”

We think Shawkat’s approach to this is so important. While, people are naturally curious to know what she and many other celebrities think about the allegations against co-stars, the accusers must remain at the center of the conversation.