Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Fast Forward

Jeffrey Tambor’s Accuser Speaks Out — ‘I Stand By My Truths’

Van Barnes, Jeffrey Tambor’s ex-assistant and one of the two women who accused him of sexual harassment, has responded to Tambor’s dismissal from the hit show “Transparent.”

Amazon Studios made the decision to let Tambor go after investigating the claims of Barnes and Trace Lysette, a former roommate of Barnes who also accused Tambor of harassment. Since the investigation found Tambor guilty, the actor has maintained his innocence and called the decision “profoundly disappointing.”

In a statement to the Hollywood Reporter, Barnes says “he did this to himself.”

“For Mr. Tambor to characterize this investigation as ‘biased’ and ‘politicized’ is an insult to the numerous people he has worked with through the years who were forced to participate in an investigation created by his own actions,” says Barnes. “Mr. Tambor’s lengthy abuse and harassment of me continues to haunt me and is a clear indication of how we got to this point.”

Barnes described the investigation as “extremely professional, exhaustingly thorough and all-encompassing.”

Although Tambor will not be appearing in the fifth season of “Transparent”, he will appear in “Arrested Development” premiering on Netflix this spring.

Becky Scott is the editor of The Schmooze. Follow her on Twitter, @arr_scott

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.