Canceled Actor Somehow Gets A Major Netflix Role
Canceled actor Jeff Garlin, who is no longer welcome on the sitcom The Goldbergs, has a new Netflix original.
Despite being canceled and fired from his role on The Goldbergs, Jeff Garlin has nabbed a role in the upcoming season of the Netflix series Never Have I Ever (via ComicBook.com). Garlin played Murray Goldberg in the aforementioned series for nine seasons before being fired over on-set allegations. This will be his first role since losing that job.
Jeff Garlin was accused of making the set of The Goldbergs feel like an unsafe space due to his behavior. An HR investigation was conducted after multiple allegations of emotional and verbal abuse from Garlin, particularly an incident where a camera assistant filed an HR complaint due to Garlin’s repeated use of the word ‘vagina’ on set. Allegedly, Garlin retaliated to the complaint by putting his hands around the assistant and saying the word vagina in her face repeatedly.
The HR investigation led to Jeff Garlin being eventually fired from The Goldbergs and Garlin denying wrongdoing on his part in an interview with Vanity Fair. His character on the show was killed off and the show went on without him, revamping the storyline to adjust to his character being dead. Now it looks like Garlin will be getting his acting career back on track with Never Have I Ever.
Never Have I Ever is a Netflix sitcom that follows the life and high-school trials and tribulations of Indian American teenager Devi. The series stars Maitreyi Ramakrishnan along with Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani, Darren Barnet, Jaren Lewison, Ramona Young, Lee Rodriguez, and John McEnroe. Jeff Garlin will be playing the role of Len, whose sweet demeanor makes Devi’s grandmother reconsider her stance on getting into another relationship.
The upcoming fourth season of Never Have I Ever is also set to be its final season, so it doesn’t seem like it will be a reliable, ongoing role for Jeff Garlin. After the on-set misconduct and his denial of any of the allegations, it would be surprising to see too many studios jumping to work with him in the near future. However, Never Have I Ever is a Netflix series, so it seems like the streaming giant has no problem with working with Garlin regardless of the allegations.
In fact, it’s a little bit surprising that Netflix would choose to work with Jeff Garlin after these allegations have been leveled against him. Netflix has been quick to drop talent in the past if they were embroiled in controversy, with Kevin Spacey and Danny Masterson being notable examples. Of course, the allegations against Spacey and Masterson were more severe in nature, so perhaps Netflix is willing to look the other way if Garlin is willing to avoid causing issues while filming.
It remains to be seen if Jeff Garlin’s role on Never Have I Ever will lead to more roles in the future or if more comes from the on-set allegations. For now, it seems like Garlin will be able to move on from The Goldbergs controversy and continue to bring in acting gigs. Garlin is also set to appear in the upcoming film Babylon, which finished filming before Garlin was fired.
