Arrested Development season 5 features Transparent joke deemed 'awkward' in wake of Jeffrey Tambor allegations

It's unknown whether the Netflix series was intentionally referencing past events

The new season of Arrested Development has arrived on Netflix with an “awkward” joke that seemingly pokes fun at Jeffrey Tambor's alleged behaviour which saw him fired from Transparent.

Tambor faced two sexual harassment claims earlier this year which saw him fired from the Amazon series for which he won two Emmys and a Golden Globe playing trans woman Maura. It will return for a fifth season without Tambor in the lead role.

In the first of eight new Arrested Development episodes, Tambor's character George Sr is shown leaving his “cismale” life behind after spending the fourth season dressed as a woman.

The narration, given as usual by Solo director Ron Howard, seemed to make a dig at this turn of events with the unfortunate quote: “George Sr soon realised his impression of a woman wasn't going to win him any awards. So he took off in his trailer for Mexico to forget his shameful mistakes.”

The joke seems even more awkward after a press tour which ended in controversy following a train-wreck group interview involving the majority of Arrested Development's cast as Jessica Walter shed tears recounting the time she was “verbally harassed” by Tambor on-set.

Walter's male co-stars, including Jason Bateman, sparked outrage for opnely supporting Tambor in favour of reassuring their emotional co-star, something they later apologised for.

It's not expected that the joke was written in direct response to the firing with Tambor himself telling Vulture that the allegations came out during “the penultimate week of filming the series.” However, its placement in the series is strikingly odd and could have easily been edited out of the episode.

Arrested Development season 5 is available to stream on Netflix now.

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