We recently reported on Lukas Gage, the Euphoria actor who went viral after sharing a Zoom audition video in which the director, thinking he was on mute, trash-talked Gage's apartment.
The director was not identified by Gage, but the internet soon sleuthed it out as a 20-year veteran television director who works in both the U.S. and U.K..
The NY Post reports: “It was in fact Tristram Shapeero, one of the most renowned directors working in TV. He started his career in the UK and has worked on a string of US TV hits from Parks & Recreation to Superstore, Fresh off the Boat, The Good Place, GLOW and most recently Mindy Kaling's latest, Never Have I Ever.”
Shapeero released a lengthy apology to Deadline for what he says were “unacceptable and insensitive remarks.”
Wrote Shapeero: “First and foremost I offer Mr. Gage a sincere and unvarnished apology for my offensive words, my unprofessional behavior during the audition and for not giving him the focus and attention he deserved. My job is to evaluate performers against the part I am trying to cast. Lukas deserved better.”
“I was using the word ‘poor' in the sense of deserving sympathy, as opposed to any economic judgment,” Shapeero added. “My words were being spoken from a genuine place of appreciation for what the actors were having to endure, stuck in confined spaces, finding it within themselves to give a role-winning performance under these conditions.”
“As I say on the video, I'm mortified about what happened.,” Shapeero continued. “While I can't put the proverbial toothpaste back in the tube, I move forward from this incident a more empathetic man; a more focused director and I promise, an even better partner to actors from the audition process to the final cut.”
Read his full apology here.
