According to Deadline, Jeff Garlin is departing ABC’s long-running comedy, The Goldbergs, following multiple misconduct allegations and HR investigations.
What’s Happening:
- Jeff Garlin, will depart The Goldbergs, following multiple misconduct allegations and HR investigations. According to sources, an agreement was reached today mutually that Garlin will not be returning to the show. His leave from the show is effective immediately.
- Garlin was believed to have only one more day of shooting left at the most this season, after his schedule had been reduced. The upcoming season of the show consists of 18 episodes. No decision has been made yet on a potential tenth season of one of ABC’s strongest comedy series.
- Garlin addressed some of the accusations and confirmed that he had been the subject of HR probes in an extensive interview with Vanity Fair’s Maureen Ryan earlier this month, in which he also denied speculation that he has been fired from the show.
- Following the interview with Vanity Fair, a number of current and former co-workers of Garlin spoke out against their experiences on set with the comedian. Speaking on condition of anonymity over fear of retribution, they spoke of a great work environment on the show, which would change dramatically on the days Garlin is on set.
- In his Vanity Fair interview, Garlin dismissed accusations of being verbally offensive by saying that he is just being “silly” as part of his schtick as a comedian.
- Overall, Garlin’s go-to jokes that a number of people on the show found offensive were talking about specific parts of the male and female anatomy. Additionally, he would not address some longtime female crew members by name, using instead nicknames that some were also considered offensive.
- An incident occurred about 2 months ago, in which Garlin intimated a woman on set, as she was walking down a ramp, then proceeded to turn around and belittle and embarrass her husband for his wife’s supposed actions. After this interaction, Garlin has only been in a couple of times, sources said. They indicated that his behavior had not changed, and he mocked the guidelines he had been given by HR.