Earlier this week, actress and comedian Charlyne Yi took to Twitter to recall the first time she met David Cross, an encounter she’ll never forget because he made fun of her clothes, taunted her in made-up racist language, and “asked if I was going to fight [him with] karate.” Cross responded, first by saying he didn’t remember doing any of that and maybe they were “both misremembering,” further implying that Yi’s account was faulty with the hashtag “#Rashomon.” He then followed that up by saying that if he had said any of those racist things, it must have been under the guise of “doing some asshole racist redneck character.”
At first, Cross’ wife, Amber Tamblyn, defended him, responding to a tweet pressing her about the accusations with, “He said he was sorry, publicly, several times. Please don’t @ me in conversations dragging my husband. Thanks.” Last night, though, Tamblyn returned to the social-media platform to issue a more measured, and more supportive, response. She said she had reached out to Yi, talked to her about the accusations, and was concerned with Yi’s feelings, not those of people on Twitter. She added, “I believe her.” Tamblyn followed that up with an admonishment: “I will say this for the last time. Do not hold women accountable for the actions, decisions or words of their partners. Don’t. Do it.”
Yi has not explicitly addressed her conversation with Tamblyn, but since her initial accusations on Monday she has tweeted out critiques of Cross’ apologies in GQ and The Huffington Post with the caption, “thank you for hearing me.” Late last night, she tweeted out a drawing of two flowers, one stroking the other’s face, with the caption: “I can see you. And you’re safe.”