In a series of tweets true to her character on the show, straight-talking punk rocker/superstar coder Carla, former Silicon Valley actress Alice Wetterlund says that the atmosphere on set was just as much of a boys’ club as the tech culture the show satirizes. Wetterlund initially chimed in on Twitter with a sarcastic joke about T.J. Miller, who continues to get booked—he recently appeared as a guest on Kristen Schaal and Kurt Braunohler’s weekly variety show Hot Tub With Kurt & Kristen, an appearance for which Schaal subsequently apologized—even after multiple allegations of harassment, physical and sexual assault, and just general extreme assholery against him:
In response to a response from a user (who apparently doesn’t keep up with entertainment news) saying she was “confused” as to why Wetterlund would be talking shit about Miller since they worked together on Silicon Valley, Wetterlund said that not only was Miller “a bully and petulant brat” on set, but that the rest of the cast (she says “male cast members,” but that’s pretty much redundant with this particular show) enabled him:
Miller was booted from the show at the end of its fourth season, a departure that HBO announced with this perfectly neutral statement: “T.J. will not return for season five.” In the year-plus since that announcement last May, however, reports have trickled out from the set—including one from series creator Mike Judge—indicating that Miller was frequently late for work, and unprofessional when he did show up. What’s new about Wetterlund’s statement is her allegation that the rest of the cast and crew were complicit in his behavior.
HBO, which has presumably had enough T.J. Miller to last several PR reps’ lifetimes at this point, quickly responded to Wetterlund’s tweets with a statement. Per Variety: “While this is the first time we have heard Alice Wetterlund comment on her experiences on ‘Silicon Valley,’ we are disappointed to learn of her concerns. HBO and the producers have always taken very seriously our responsibility to create a welcoming and congenial environment for everyone who works on the show.”