Alia Shawkat Defends ‘Arrested Development’ Co-Star Jessica Walter

After the cast’s emotional interview with the New York Times, Alia Shawkat is speaking up to the extent that she wishes she did then.

Jeffrey Tambor is one of the most recently accused actors within the #MeToo movement, as sexual harassment allegations led to his termination with the show Transparent. Following this ordeal, his actions against his Arrested Development co-star Jessica Walter were brought to the table when the rest of the cast sat down for an interview with the news publication.

During said interview, Jason Bateman, David Cross, and Tony Hale–other male interviewees of the cast–were quick to excuse Tambor’s verbal harassment toward Walter and mansplain over her whenever she tried to share her own experience. When Shawkat noticed this dynamic during the discussion and the discomfort that it very obviously brought Walter, she stepped in, but not in time to fully express her thoughts.

In an interview with Broadly, Shawkat opened up about the NYT interview in defense of Walter. “They were almost trying to cover themselves up while simultaneously talking, instead of actually listening to each other,” she said of her male co-stars, “I felt like I didn’t say enough to defend her. I felt like I didn’t say enough to explain that the movement is so important—and that Jeffrey’s story is a piece of this movement, and we can’t silence it. Women’s voices need to be heard, and, ironically enough — I wasn’t able to be heard. I was really scared that the interviewer didn’t even hear me.”