Director apologizes for unmuted critique of actor's apartment during audition

A director who forgot to mute his microphone during a Zoom audition as he criticised an actor’s apartment has apologised and claimed he was just sympathising with the plight of arts workers in the coronavirus pandemic.

Related: Actor calls out director for criticizing his 'tiny' apartment during Zoom audition

Video of the incident went viral, triggering a wave of support for the actor Lukas Gage and rampant speculation as to the identity of the British-accented director.

That mystery has now been solved. Tristram Shapeero, who works in Los Angeles, penned a confession and public apology on the Deadline website. A TV director, Shapeero’s credits include The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

“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,” Shapeero wrote. “My job is to evaluate performers against the part I am trying to cast. Lukas deserved better.”

Gage, best known for his role on HBO’s Euphoria, posted the video on Twitter. It showed him preparing for an audition over Zoom, with the comment: “PSA: if you’re a shit-talking director make sure to mute ur shit on zoom meetings.”

At the start of the clip, Gage is fixing his hair when a voice says: “These poor people live in these tiny apartments like I’m looking at his, you know, background and he’s got his TV and his, you know…”

Gage tells the director: “I know it’s a shitty apartment. That’s why give me this job so I can get a better one.”

In his apology, Shapeero claimed his words were not meant as an insult to Gage, but instead an expression of sympathy with the plight of actors struggling amid the coronavirus pandemic and its restrictions on public life.

“I was using the word ‘poor’ in the sense of deserving sympathy, as opposed to any economic judgment,” he wrote.

“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.”