Jeff Garlin Exits The Goldbergs After Investigation into Misconduct Allegations

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Jeff Garlin has exited hit comedy The Goldbergs following an HR investigation into multiple misconduct allegations.

According to Deadline, Garlin will leave the show immediately after reaching a mutual agreement with Sony Picture Television, which produces the comedy for ABC.

Garlin is believed to have only one more day of shooting left for the show’s ninth season, and it remains unclear how his departure will impact any potential future seasons of the series.

The actor addressed the allegations in an interview with Vanity Fair earlier this month, during which he admitted to being the subject of an HR probe for the past three years but denied that he had been fired from the series.

“Okay. There has been an HR investigation on me the past three years,” he told Vanity Fair’s Maureen Ryan. “HR has come to me three years in a row for my behavior on set.”

Ryan went on to claim that multiple people had reached out to say they felt “demeaned and disrespected multiple times by language” Garlin used on set, as well as by some of his physical actions.

“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,” he responded. “Okay? I have never physically come at anyone, for any reason, so that I find terribly confusing and untrue … So whoever it is that feels this way has it out for me. That’s my true belief. I would never physically put myself to someone. And I would never hatefully say something to anyone.”

Deadline further reported that Garlin had a “penchant for dropping the word ‘vagina’ on the set”:

According to a source on the show, a camera assistant made a complaint to her department head about Garlin’s use of the word. After the actor found out, he reportedly put his hands around her and kept saying “vagina” in her face over and over again. Overall, Garlin’s go-to jokes that a number of people on the show found offensive were talking about grandma’s vagina, balls and brassier, a co-worker said. Additionally, he would not address some longtime female crew members by name, using instead nicknames that some also considered offensive.

“He is extremely verbally and emotionally abusive,” a Goldbergs employee also told Deadline.

Sources additionally told the outlet that “the mood on the set is ecstatic” following Garlin’s departure, adding, “In fact several people cheered when the execs said that Jeff would not be returning.”