A second woman working on Amazon’s Transparent has accused star Jeffrey Tambor of sexual misconduct. In a statement first posted on Facebook on Thursday, transgender actress Trace Lysette, who plays yoga instructor Shea in the series, claims Tambor made inappropriate sexual comments to her and physically harassed her while on set.
Per Lysette, before the filming of a Season 2 scene between her character and Tambor’s Maura Pfefferman, Tambor said he wanted to “attack [her] sexually.” Then, Lysette says, he “leaned his body against me, and began quick, discreet thrust back and forth against my body. I felt his penis on my hip through his thin pajamas.”
In her statement, she calls for the series to remove Tambor and “let the show go on” by centering its story on other trans characters.
Lysette’s is the second allegation of sexual misconduct made against Tambor by a Transparent colleague. Last week, Van Barnes, a trans woman who was Tambor’s personal assistant on the show, accused the actor of sexually harassing her. Amazon Studios opened an internal investigation into the matter, while Tambor denied the allegations, saying, “I adamantly and vehemently reject and deny any and all implication and allegation that I have ever engaged in any improper behavior toward this person or any other person I have ever worked with.”
When reached by The Hollywood Reporter in regards to Lysette’s accusations, Tambor said that he isn’t always “the easiest person to work with,” but denied the allegations. “I have never been a predator — ever,” he said. “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.”
An Amazon spokesperson told the Reporter that the “information will be added to our ongoing conversation” as the company continues an internal investigation. In the meantime, however, plans may be being put in place to do their next season of Transparent without Tambor, as House of Cards is doing in the wake of allegations against Kevin Spacey. According to Deadline, the Transparent writers’ room is considering writing Tambor’s lead character out of the show’s fifth season.
Transparent Season 5 is not currently in production and is expected to premiere sometime in 2018.
