Actor Jeff Garlin says he hasn’t been fired from his role on the hit sitcom “The Goldbergs” — though he admitted to being the subject of several human resources probes over his on-set behavior.
“No, I was not fired from The Goldbergs. I have not been fired from The Goldbergs,” Garlin, who plays disgruntled patriarch Murray Christian Goldberg on the ABC sitcom, told Vanity Fair in an interview published on Friday
Garlin, 59, said that he has been subject to investigations from the HR department in each of the last three years due to things he has said on set, which he categorized as silly, misunderstood jokes that rubbed some cast and crew members the wrong way.
“It’s always the same thing. It’s about me and my silliness on set. They don’t think it’s appropriate. I do. That’s where we’re at. I’ve not been fired because of it. We just think differently,” he said during the interview.
In 2019, Garlin said he was almost fired due to inappropriate language he used on set. “I was saying some really stupid silly things that I can’t believe that anyone would find offensive, but to each his own,” he told The Post at the time.
The upsetting language and behavior on-set appears to have persisted since then, with members of the cast and crew telling Vanity Fair that Garlin’s language on set was demeaning. Others said they were made uncomfortable by the actor’s hugging.
“I gotta be honest with you. I don’t even know how to respond to that, because as a comedian, if somebody is offended by what I say I, all I can say is, I’m sorry. Okay? I have never physically come at anyone, for any reason, so that I find it terribly confusing and untrue,” he told the magazine, claiming that he believes “whoever it is that feels this way has it out for me.”
In response to the allegations of hugging, Garlin said he’s “a person who hugs for sure.”
“And it’s quick hugs, but I didn’t realize that anyone was feeling—so if you want to write that story, that’s a true story. It puts the onus on them to say something, and I would gladly respect anyone who said, ‘Please don’t hug me. I don’t feel comfortable.’”
He said he doesn’t plan to hug anyone on set again.
Garlin said that he’s never had a problem with negative experience with the cast and crew of any production besides “The Goldbergs,” comparing it to his time on set with HBO’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” in which he stars and co-produces with Larry David.
“Now when I’m at Curb Your Enthusiasm, for example, if I’m not doing the things that we’re talking about, Larry David—or a cameraman, the producer, who’s a woman—lots of people come up to me and ask me if I’m okay. I need to do what I need to do to keep my energy up and do what I do. So I don’t know what to say.”
The actor said there are about seven or eight episodes left of filming in “The Goldbergs” ninth season. He added he has a “gut feeling” the show won’t be back next year.