Jeff Garlin’s onscreen delivery in _The Goldbergs _and _Curb Your Enthusiasm _may have elicited laughter, but his alleged troublesome behavior behind the scenes made working on the set

challenging for crew members.  According to Maureen Ryan’s new book, _Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood_, the actor’s “disrespectful” and “disparaging”

behavior towards nearly everyone on the set of _The Goldbergs_” was allowed to run unchecked by showrunner Adam F. Goldberg.  “It was a big boys club of men who were probably always kind of

the dorks in high school that got picked on, then all of a sudden, they had this power,” an insider told Ryan, referring to Garlin, Goldberg and other high-powered men on the show.  Another

the show.  While Garlin previously told _Vanity Fair_ in 2021 he was not fired from _The Goldbergs, _his exit from the ABC sitcom in the middle of season 9 indicated his departure was sudden

and unexpected. Garlin's costar Wendi McLendon-Covey, who played the show’s matriarch Beverly Goldberg, later revealed during an interview on _Andy Cohen Live_ in 2023 that Garlin’s

exit was “a long time coming.”  “And that it finally happened it was like, ‘OK, OK. Finally someone is listening to us,'” McLendon-Covey recalled. Reps for Garlin, David and HBO did not

immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment. ABC declined to comment. On the set of _Curb Your Enthusiasm, _where Garlin played Larry David’s best friend Jeff Greene, his behavior

reportedly proved no better. Several insiders said Garlin used “demeaning, graphic, sexual language” on set, which spurred HBO to investigate his actions several times, with one insider

indicating that there was at least one legal settlement with a former _Curb Your Enthusiasm _employee stemming from the actor's behavior. But Garlin has previously denied this, telling

_Vanity Fair_ in 2021: "My opinion is, I have my process about how I'm funny in terms of the scene and what I have to do." "They feel that it makes for a quote

'unsafe' workplace. Now, mind you, my silliness making an unsafe workplace — I don't understand how that is," he said. "I am always a kind and thoughtful person. I

make mistakes, sure. But my comedy is about easing people's pain. Why would I ever want to cause pain in anybody for a laugh? That's bullying. That's just uncalled for."

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STORIES._ _Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood_ is available now.