“The Goldbergs”: Wendi McClendon-Covey on Jeff Garlin’s departure

Jeff Garlin’s abrupt exit from The Goldbergs may have come as a surprise to us — but not to any of his former co-stars.

Wendi McLendon-Covey, who stars as Mama Beverly on the ABC sitcom, now says of Garlin’s departure, “It’s been a long time coming.” Addressing the controversy in a Sirius XM interview with Andy Cohen on Tuesday, she added adds, when Garlin left the show, “it was like, ‘OK, OK, finally someone’s listening to us.'”

McLendon-Covey later nodded and agreed when Cohen speculated that Garlin’s exit was a culmination of many complaints against him, but she then asked if they couldn’t talk more about it, noting that she was “exhausted from this topic and the PTSD.” of everything is… I just feel like the less people know about it the better. Nobody benefits from knowing anything.”

Garlin, who played Beverly’s husband Murray Goldberg, left the show in December 2021 following a staff investigation that resulted from multiple complaints about the comedian’s behavior on set. Subsequent episodes of Season 9 used recorded dialogue and a body double for Murray, with Garlin’s face overlaid in post-production. In September’s Season 10 premiere, it was revealed that Murray had passed away, although it was not stated how he had died.

First premiere in 2013, The Goldbergs will conclude its run with a series finale on Wednesday, May 3rd. The series is loosely based on the life of creator Adam F. Goldberg and currently features McLendon-Covey (as Beverly), Sean Giambrone (as Adam), Troy Gentile (as Barry), Hayley Orrantia (as Erica), and Sam Lerner (as Ericas). husband Geoff).