Joss Whedon Breaks Silence on ‘Toxic’ Workplace Allegations Made by Buffy/ Angel Cast Members Last February
Joss Whedon has broken his silence on the many allegations, made almost a year ago, about his behavior as a showrunner on series such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer and its spinoff Angel.
It was last February when Buffyverse alumna Charisma Carpenter, in a series of Instagram posts she penned (in part to #StandWithRayFisher), elaborated on claims she had made over the years, including about what she called Whedon’s “history of being casually cruel,” his creation of “hostile and toxic work environments,” what the Angel boss allegedly said and did to Cordelia’s portrayer during her real-life pregnancy.
“Joss has a history of being casually cruel. He has created hostile and toxic work environments since his early career,” Carpenter wrote. “Like his ongoing, passive-aggressive threats to fire me…. And callously calling me ‘fat’ to colleagues when I was four months pregnant, weighing 126 lbs. He was mean and biting, disparaging about others openly, and often played favorites, putting people against one another to compete and vie for his attention and approval.”
Carpenter also claimed that when discussing her pregnancy, which happened during Angel Season 4, Whedon “asked me if I was ‘going to keep it.'”
Amber Benson, who played Tara on Buffy, echoed Carpenter’s sentiment, saying on Twitter, “Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top…. There was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later.”
Speaking for the first time since these claims (as well as allegations about his behavior as the Justice League superhero movie’s fill-in writer/director) were made, Whedon admitted to New York magazine that he was not “civilized” during his earliest days as a TV showrunner. “I yelled, and sometimes you had to yell,” he said. This was a very young cast [on Buffy], and it was easy for everything to turn into a cocktail party.”
Regarding the very specific claims laid out by Carpenter, Whedon admitted he was “not mannerly” but claimed he “did not call her fat” during her pregnancy.
“Most of my experiences with Charisma were delightful and charming,” he countered.
In the wake of Carpenter’s detailed account, and as multiple cast members from both shows shared their support online, Buffy vet Michelle Trachtenberg wrote on Instagram, “This must. Be known,” that as a teenage actress at the time, “There was a rule. Saying. [Joss is] not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again.”
New York reported that while Whedon “had no idea what [Trachtenberg] was talking about” in her cryptic missive, a Buffy insider claimed that “an informal rule did exist” stemming from a closed-door meeting between the two that had left Dawn’s 16-year-old portrayer “shaken.”
Again, the complete, detailed discussion with Whedon — including his suggestion that he is “one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been” — can be found on New York magazine’s website.
“Don’t get me started. Could I have been a better showrunner? Absolutely. Should I have been nicer?” He considered the question. Perhaps he could have been calmer, more direct. But would that not have compromised the work? Maybe the problem was he’d been _too_ nice, he said. He’d wanted people to love him, which meant when he _was_ direct, people thought he was harsh…. “I think I’m one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been.”
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Translation: “I’ve learned absolutely nothing from all this. Haven’t I suffered enough?” What an a******.
Exactly. His comments make it clear he learned nothing from this.
I’m not here for his comeback tour.
He’s done, no one will work with him again. It’ll be glorious when that realisation finally hits him.
Well said.
Spoken like a true narcissist. And they almost never learn.
(JW, not you!)
I’m a boss. I have direct reports who are bosses. Underneath me, there are 60+ people. And you never, ever have to yell. That is the worst leadership tool you could possibly use. That would accomplish nothing but generate anxiety and resentment and would 100% not result in people giving their best work. What a jerk.
And a good boss never, EVER EVER blames those under them for their own behavior. Utter unprofessional childishness.
Exactly. As a boss I take ownership of the things that go wrong and share the credit when things go well. If someone is not pulling their weight, it’s up to me to have a plan to get them back on track and clearly communicate the expectations, as well as making sure they know what the consequences are if they don’t follow through. If I don’t do that, or help my direct reports set that tone with those that they oversee, then I’m the one who ultimately failed.
Being in management surprised me with how much of it is people stuff, rather than work task stuff. I try to emphasize that very much when people meet with me to explore promotional opportunities. If you’re not good with the people stuff, it isn’t going to matter how good you are at the work tasks. Sounds like Joss hasn’t realized this.
You know, that is what I try to explain to my manager when we discuss my professional development goals. I have the education for advanced tasks, but not the disposition to manage people. So, he helps me best when he is NOT encouraging me to follow his leadership path, but still shows me ways to demonstrate my indirect leadership skills as a team member.
Absolute facts 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾
You are a boss in a firm or company, not a boss of a bunch of wild fame stricken teens on a set of a horror show, Geez. I don’t know whose comment is more stupid, yours or these below yours. That being said, Whedon does sound like a harsh one, but I also blame studios for not telling their directors what is allowed and what not. Some really are jerks, some don’t know that they are and would correct their behaviour if told so.
Those “fame-stricken teens” were actually in their 20s, and were still paid professionals who did not deserve Whedon’s toxic abuse.
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But you’re not wrong about one thing: for too long, studios were willing to look the other way in the face of egregious behavior in order to keep their “auteurs” happy. And that needs to end.
I think it’s even worse if they were young (like Trachtenberg). There is no excuse for screaming at, bullying, throwing insults at, or any other kind of emotional abuse aimed at a kid who works for you. If you don’t think they (or older cast or crew members, for that matter) are doing the job, get a mediator, get counseling, or fire them. But acting like a jerk doesn’t work, is abusive, and shows that Whedon was the one who didn’t know what he was doing.
Hey, Glupa, there is ZERO reason for a middle aged man to EVER have a closed door conversation with a TEEN girl that leads to the ENTIRE cast and crew to go into protection mode.
That’s all you need to know to know if Joss was the problem. ;)
Lol Charisma was in her 30s when Angel started. Most of them were in that age range. For the few who were young and in their teens, like Michelle, it’s 100% Whedon preying on minor children and knowing he could get away with it.
And this is what we call a fauxpology.
““Most of my experiences with Charisma were delightful and charming,”” even sounds like he thinks SHE’S the one who had questionable behavior! Unless he’s calling HIMSELF charming??
Good lord. What a failure. I hope people stop interviewing or considering hiring him or anything. He really just needs to go away.
Charisma’s story hasn’t changed in twenty years. Believe women, not their narcissistic showrunners.
Yeah, it’s not like women have never twisted the narrative lmao.
Would be ideal to believe women but their track record is terrible
Do you people believe this stuff, or is it all trolling? To literally copy/paste: “her story hasn’t changed in twenty years.” She gets nothing, has gotten nothing, will get nothing, out of lying about this.
And to think that I wanted to rewatch BTVS. But I cannot because the MF’er and how he treats people. I would be so guilty to rewatch that show knowing what Joss is now. A scumbag among others. #pardonmyfrench
As for Joss is, I hope he doesn’t work in La La Land ever again. EVER!!
I have no issues rewatching Buffy. Even SMG herself said she will always be proud of being Buffy, even though she was done being connected to Joss after it was over.
I also don’t think Hollywood needs to give him any more opportunities to be in charge of other people. He should be done now that widespread attention is finally being paid to his abusive leadership style (I don’t know why it has taken so long, I feel like we heard about his treatment of Charisma in real time during Season 4 of Angel). But I’ll never stop finding meaning in Buffy. Buffy was also Marti Noxon and Jane Epensen and the brilliant actors, among others.
I understand and respect this stance. I was probably a solid 8 on the Whedonverse fan scale, so I get the love, as well as the appreciation for the talents of the actors, writers, and crew. It’s all so tarnished for me though that all the books, comics, box sets, and memorabilia are packed away.
Buffy only got really good when Marti Noxon took charge.
I’ll say it: Buffy made me a feminist. I learned a lot about feminism analyzing the show, and while it has its flaws I will always love it as being the instigator of my turn towards progressive intersectional politics. I don’t think I can do a rewatch anytime soon, because everything would be colored by Joss’s behavior and I wouldn’t be able to enjoy the things I used to in light of what we know now (though we’ve always known it because Charisma has never been afraid to break the silence).
I tried rewatching it and found that it doesn’t hold up well. The dialogue is very try hard and cringy. I was into it as a high schooler and even nostalgia can’t save 90% of it nowadays. And then Boreanaz took too much control of Angel (he ruined Angelus…) at the same time Whedon black listed Carpenter for daring to get pregnant, so, yeah.
There is so much stuff that is so misogynist and creepy that I didn’t pick up on then. Well, I did think the sexbot was creepy even then. But there’s way too much objectification, especially sexual, running through way too much of it.
Shouldn’t the designation of him being “one of the nicer showrunners that’s ever been” come from those who worked on his shows, not him?
And all of this is just from the TV side of his resume. He saves his worst comments for Gal Gadot and Ray Fisher (and let’s not pretend like it’s a coincidence NY Mag ran those comments on MLK Day).
Hit the nail right on the head.
Hmmmm my thoughts exactly
Yep, now he can add racist to his list horrible behaviors that he doesn’t think is that bad. Well done idiot
That was so cringey. I mean, let’s go with the “she doesn’t speak English” very well insult, and top it with “I speak much too intelligently for most people to understand” for the hat trick of insult, ego, and humble brag.
he is continuing to dig his own grave. his new comments only show just how much of a ***hole he really is.
Excuse me… I’ll be in the bathroom regurgitating the bile that Joss Whedon continues to spew in his own defense. He’s already several rungs lower than merely being a reprehensible jerk!
Look we don’t really know what happened behind the scenes or if Joss Whedon is telling the truth or lying his butt off. But whatever it is, he created great things overall! Buffy and Angle were great shows, his sci-fi show Firefly had a lot going for it… Dollhouse was meh but ok The Justice League was not good but that movie always was gonna suck because he started with one huge mess, after seeing the Synder cut Joss Whedon needs to get one oscar like his version is so much better overall! Also, he worked on the first 2 MCU Avengers and helped overall with the scripts issues of the first few Marvel MCU movies… and honestly, he knows his craft… He is one creative mind and they can be wierd and misunderstood.
Yeah, no, we need to get off the “Oh, they’re just a misunderstood genius/creative mind!” attitude. That attitude has led to so many people getting away with crap and acting like their stuff doesn’t stink or they don’t have to listen to anyone else or learn to work with others. There are plenty of creative people who don’t act like jerks or use their creativity as an excuse to get away with crap.
Likey would shock you how many creative Hollywood people are jerks because you don’t really know any, like most of them play the socials like politicians you never will really know the person, in front or behind the camera. All they let you see is one PR-approved act while they promote their work. Lots of drama on most sets if you spend 1/6 months working with the same people you end up with people you love and ones you can’t stand. Being one showrunner would put you in the middle of all that drama, and somehow get your episodes ready before the deadline… Joss sure was driven crazy on all his sets. From kid actors that keep getting themself in trouble to the huge ego ones he worked with all those types
No, actually, I’m not surprised there’s a lot of people in Hollywood who are jerks. I’m pretty well aware of that – the last few years have certainly exposed quite a few of them, and before then, there’s been other stories of other awful behavior throughout Hollywood’s history, too.
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And I will repeat, a large part of why that kind of behavior is allowed to run rampant is because people are allowed to get away with a lot of crap under the guise of being a “misunderstood/complicated genius”, and nobody’s able or allowed to pop their ego bubbles. Which is why we need to get away from that very mindset.
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As for your comment about working with people you like and don’t like – yeah? And? Welcome to the world of working. Everyone who’s ever had a job of any kind in history has had to deal with that. But you know what most people do in that situation? They act like mature adults and figure out how to deal with it. Whedon’s certainly not the first showrunner/director who’s had to deal with issues on the set of a show/movie, nor will he the last. He’s not special in that regard. His own behavior helped create and exacerbate a lot of those issues, so it’s hard to really have much sympathy for the guy.
It’s not his fault their careers stalled. No one working went after him.
Their creativity isn’t “an excuse to get out of crap”. We don’t even know what the “crap” really is, and the popular opinion on him here is just soo duuummmbbb
Wait? Gal Gadot, Jason Momoa, Ben Affleck, etc arent working? Wow thats news to me.
I think you’ll find its Whedon who is not workng… and rightly so
Classic example of excusing bad behavior because you like their work.
…and notice how it’s a guy excusing another guy’s behavior.
Exactly. I can’t support him as a direct result of him being the polar opposite of the person he had presented himself to be, and that is a direct result of my being a woman who believes in feminism, inclusion, and diversity. If nothing has changed, you probably were never a fan for those reasons.
So, casting it off as a creative mind is how you enable the dysfunction.
I’d also be 100% willing to not have his creative work a part of my life (I own all his TV shows on DVD) if it would erase the trauma all the cast and crew he worked with experienced.
It’s never OK to be abusive.
Yikes. This guy needs to stop talking and go away. Was he expecting these comments to help his situation?
I think he was gambling on a more sympathetic piece. The writer both presented his side, and totally buried him.
He buried himself. He’s used to getting praised for his words and told he can do no wrong and that feeds into his narcissistic personality. He thinks he can talk his way into everyone seeing what a tortured and attacked soul he is, when it’s just feeding into why people didn’t like him in the first place.
My cousin was a PA on Buffy, she had awful stories about the behind the scenes crap that went on. She didn’t give names, NDA in place of course, but I can put things together with the stories from the past 12-18 months. Toxic is an understatement, but back then stuff was kept quiet and people pretended that it was exaggerated by selfish actors who were always complaining about something.
Ronnie, Ricky, Bobby and Mike, if I’m a fan of Jossy Joss, who cares who y’all like…So y’all should cool it nooowww, aaannndd watch out before y’all lose controolll!
As a huge Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Dollhouse, and The Nevers fan and a former fan of Joss, this is a really upsetting interview.
He really just decided to shovel his own career grave with this interview.
He said Gadot can’t understand English properly and didn’t understand him. Which is ridiculous, as we have seen her give plenty of fluent interviews over the years. He also called Ray Fisher a bad actor, which was just childish.
Look from both versions of JL Ray Fisher was by far the worst actor in it, and it overall was a really bad movie, kinda like the anti avengers…
Maybe Gadot’s ego got in the way of following his instructions like she seems the type that wants to do everything her way. He clearly had a few issues with her what is highly possible.
Also speaking English is not the same as understanding it, she is one actress she trained to remember her lines, she would be able to be great in pre rehearse interviews like you see on most talk shows all that was rehearse and prewriten.
“Maybe Gadot’s ego got in the way of following his instructions like she seems the type that wants to do everything her way.”
How do you suppose so?
“Also speaking English is not the same as understanding it, she is one actress she trained to remember her lines, she would be able to be great in pre rehearse interviews like you see on most talk shows all that was rehearse and prewriten.”
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What a lot of rot. English is taught in every school in Israel, and Gadot is clearly a fluent, conversational speaker.
Here’s a question for you, do you learn English in your American schools? Yes you say, we’ll explain to me how as a Brit who has to deal with Americans on a daily basis I’ve had plenty of times where they haven’t understood what I was saying and where I’ve had to really make an effort to somewhat dumb down my way of speaking to prevent this happening? There is a big difference between technically being fluent and being ‘native’. Dismissing the fact that as a none native speaker of a English and specifically the American dialect that there could be a lost in translation issue just makes you ignorant about language. Especially as anyone whose ever seen an Interview with Whedon knows he doesn’t exactly have the simplest use of the language.
You’ve had to “dumb yourself down” to speak to Americans, eh? Don’t discount the possibility that they’ve had trouble understanding you because you come across as a total pillock. (You’ll note my British English is just fine.)
As a brit I approve of your use of “total pillock” 😂😂
Ah so adapting my communications to be more simplistic makes me a pillock does it? Being aware of the fact that even though both countries speak English there are a whole host of differences that both change the meaning of words and phrases and where certain things actually just make no sense to the other side. Whedon’s work is actually a perfect example of this where despite U.K. broadcast TV generally being much more relaxed in what’s allowed than US broadcast TV you have Buffy Episodes age rated 12 and 15 for largely language reasons and Angel 15 and 18 meaning you can’t show either uncut before 10pm. And YouTube is littered with channels about this both from Americans living in the U.K. and vice versa detailing the differences and talking about struggles and faux pas they have had. And again we are talking about two countries that speak English as their primary language not a country whose primary language is Hebrew. Thinking that just because she can speak English almost fluently makes her able to understand all the complexities that a native speaker with decades of being surrounded by it does is naive.
If anyone doesn’t understand English is Joss if he thought anything he said in this interview would help him. It only proved what dozens of people who have worked for him have publicly denounced over the past 20+ years. As for your question, it’s called accents and dialects. Which is not a problem Gadot would have, as she mainly made films/PR in America. In fact, she is quite well-spoken and you can find her giving interviews in English on a range of subjects at length.
She may do a lot of work in America but it’s still not the same as being native. She lives in Tel Aviv so she is only ever being exposed to it on a significant basis is on film sets. It’s like you could be technically fluent and comfortable in Hebrew but unless you were living in Israel for decades you wouldn’t ever be close to having that native level of understanding where you would understand more than just the direct translation of things from a native
Perhaps to you, a monolingual simpleton. Plenty of people all over the world speak more than one language fluently, specially when they work in said language. Don’t think everyone is as incapable as you are.
Your grammar is atrocious. Perhaps that’s the reason people have trouble understanding you.
You do realize that it’s commonly now believed that American English is closer to original English than most of the dialects spoken in Britain, right? Instead of dumbing it down, you’re doing quiet the opposite.
Why would an actor not want to follow the instructions of the director? You do realise that would just hold up everyone right? No one wants to do repeated takes over and over again and have an actor saying nope, not doing that lol
There you go again. A guy excusing another guy’s poor behavior. I shudder to think how you were raised.
Maria, I was raised in a time without social media where people on the outside do not try to destroy someone’s career without knowing every single detail. I am just saying we don’t know what really happen, Ray Fisher instantly played the racist card. Joss worked with many black actors before without issue, so his version seems much more logical, Ray Fisher, likey was mad most of his scenes were cut from the movie. And Gal never really told us what happened just that she got it handled so really nothing happened there that she not could take care of. It’s WB’s job to do something about it or make a public statement if they feel the need too..
The fact Jason Momoa, Amber Benson, Sarah Michelle Geller, James Masters, Michelle Trachtenberg, Charisma Carpenter, Buffy’s former stuntwoman and stunt coordinator, costume designer, his ex-wife, all seem to corroborate Joss bad behaviour, the logical conclusion is that the person lying is not Ray Fisher.
Hey, Harry, let me help you out and fix what you are saying:
“people on the outside do not try to destroy someone’s career” – you mean, holding people accountable for their behavior is a new thing to you, eh?
“Joss worked with many black actors before without issue” – likely you believe you can’t be racist if you have a Black friend, eh?
“It’s WB’s job to do something about it ” – they did. She’s been vocal that she went to the studio and they handled it. However , Joss was in the wrong to create a situation for them to have to mediate.
So, Gal, Ray, Charisma, Amber, SMG, Michelle and others are all on record that he’s problematic but you think they are all the issue? Is Joss your dad or something?
likely you believe you can’t be racist if you have a Black friend, eh?
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LOL, yeah, that did read very “Some of my best friends…”-esque, didn’t it?
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Seriously, people, it’s okay to acknowledge a famous person you like is a jerk. You don’t always need to rush to their defense.
Marie, I have not seen any other person of color say anything about working with JW, only this guy that had his scenes cut and it’s confirmed that his character didn’t do well with a test audience. So I think JW’s story sounds more believable next to that he had everything to gain by trying to push the other version out there… sounds just like social media manipulation. I do not see any reason to believe his Race was the issue there, I think it’s his acting that was the issue and his personality. Amber, SMG, Michelle, and others didn’t say anything about him being one racist just a bit of a jerk, but all of them kept renewing their contracts every season… so it was not that bad really I take it?
Sarah Michelle Geller could not get out fast enough of Buffy. She was signed for seven seasons, but she asked out many times. She simply was denied. They offered her a lot of money for season 8 or a guest stint on Angel and she flat out refused. Amber Benson refused to return for season 7, categorically. People don’t renew their deals every year, unlike what you think. Also, “people chose not to ruin their careers, so it was not that bad” is quite the stupid take.
Telling her that he would wreck her career, then adding a scene in his version where the Flash falls face first into her cleavage (cuz of course EVERY actress would LOVE to have to deal with that)? I think that is direct enough to where ANYONE would figure that out.
Stop, just stop. There is no way for you to say anything without sound racist. He is trying to gaslight the whole thing by saying it’s all a misunderstanding on her part because her English is not good enough to comprehend his superior handle of the English language. Nope she heard it loud and clear and make sure someone above him heard about it.
“I did it, but it’s everyone else’s fault.” Almost a year and this is his response?
I’ve spent 30+ years on various sets, including Buffy and Firefly. A couple thoughts: A) Yes, there are a ton of even worse showrunners, especially in the era Joss’ father came up in. That doesn’t excuse terrible behavior! B) Buffy was a very stressful set from S2 on when it became the “It” show without the ratings. Tons of ego and fighting among the actors, with several refusing to talk and making the crew pick sides. Better leadership could have tampered this down. C) Several of us have spoken about the “unspoken rule” and we remember it being Joss pulling Michelle in private to try and speak to her one-on-one because she wasn’t giving the performance he wanted. I don’t know what actually happened in that room, and I’m not negating how upset she was. But I know several directors have similar stories of pulling people aside so as not to embarrass them in front of people. This happened with Nick a lot, too. D) I 100% believe all the comments people have made since, and I believe Joss would believe he was making obvious jokes each time and would point to the sarcastic responses he’d get back that it wasn’t hostile. But it’s good for times to change and acknowledge the failings of leadership and morality to be a better person.
Thanks for the comment. A lot of opinions are being expressed here, which is valid, certainly, but not very helpful for understanding what went on. It’s clarifying to hear from someone who was there.
Seems like most of the people say part of the problem was that Whedon could be as sarcastic and biting as he wanted, and it was “just a joke” but if anyone gave him any of his own medicine he had a meltdown.
“New York reported that while Whedon “had no idea what [Trachtenberg] was talking about” in her cryptic missive”
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That’s a great response to a (at the time) 16 year old girl who didn’t feel safe being alone in a room with you. He also now seems to be blaming his Mother (previously his inspiration) for his character. Add in PTSD, treatment for “addictions to sex and love” and essentially accusing Zack Snyder of orchestrating a campaign aginst him and you get a picture of who is telling the truth and who isn’t in this sstory.
You can also check out Michael Rosenbaum’s (Smallville) interviews with James Marsters on the podcast Inside of You. Apparently he was not pleased that the studio inisisted that Spike remained longer than the original handful of episodes and physically assaulted Marsters for being Spike’s actor.
☆ This! I remember the same thing. He was livid that James’ Spike was popular with the fans and threatened James while grabbing him/throwing him against a wall if I recall correctly.
Just wanna say that Michael Rosenbaum’s podcast is pretty great overall. And yeah I saw that James Marsters one (I say ‘saw’ cos I watch the video version on Youtube).
I’d like to see Whedon excuse that. Heck, get them all in the same room together and debate it all.
I’ll add that beyond seemingly a pretty ok guy, Rosenbaum gives a great interview and gets a lot out of them. I too more YouTube than podcast, but it’s the same thing. Don’t always have time for the full 2 hour version, but he also has a clips YouTube page with highlights. He’s talked to a number of the people around Whedon over the years. Carpenter too. Plus he’s had some experiences with weirdos on a set.
Spewing xenophobic bs was definitely the best way to support his claims that he’s a perfect angel who did nothing wrong. (Hoping the sarcasm here was obvious)
I think he wanted the article to rehab his image, but it really reinforced all the allegations.
This is honestly kind of pathetic from him. You’d hope that he used this time to reflect and take accountability instead of…whatever this is.
It was obvious to me that he had a vendetta against Charisma Carpenter due to what he did to her character on Angel, which was just vile.
Just read the whole interview and Joss has gone even further down in my estimation. What a complete twat! And a self delusional twat at that. Not sure if he was trying to rehabilitate himself but he comes across as an egotist of the highest order.
He is clearly very comfortable with himself and his behavior.
I think he should have stayed silent. He seems even more toxic now.
I am still furious how he ruined the character of Cordelia in her final season of Angel.
I read some of the comments and I have to ask, are you comparing his actions on Buffy to the standards of the 1990s or the standards of today. Frankly I didn’t like a lot of what I read. But, Whedon’s talent and ability to make successful shows was due in part to his ability to meet deadlines and keep people on task. Your hearing about the bad parts of a seven year show that made most of that cast successful. None of these people quit, none of these people let it be known how Joss was after finishing working with him, many of them because they hoped they might work with him again. He is not innocent but you should take a deeper look at the circumstances and witnesses before you rush to judgment. Consider, if he was truly that toxic to work with would he be able to keep the secret that well and do that many movies, tv shows, and keep working with the same actors on multiple projects?
Oh, hey! Another guy coming to defend a toxic guy. Whew, wasn’t sure we had enough here!
Toxic masculinity sure is one-note.
Are you just ignoring that one of his last major projects was Justice League and his actions there are what opened the floodgates?
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As for keeping secrets in showbusiness, look at the actions of people like Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey and Jimmy Saville over a long period of time.
Yes. Much like Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey, Bill Cosby, Bryan Singer, Scott Rudin, etc… And people have been denouncing him for 20+ years. It’s just that they are finally being heard.
I was a working professional in the 90s, in a creative field and working with Hollywood.
Unlike Jeff, I was aware then as I am now that basic standards are the same – don’t have affairs with your subordinates, don’t abuse people, etc.
Did toxic and abusive people still have leadership roles? Yep. Did that make their behavior OK? Nope.
Like me, so I could look professional, I opted not to visibly throw those toxic people under the bus when I stopped working for them, only to learn that my desire to remain looking like the mature one created an environment that enabled their bad behavior.
What has changed since the 90s is that we don’t do that anymore and I am HERE FOR IT!
I mean, the dude made like the (at the time) 3rd highest grossing movie of all time and got kicked off that series. Because he was too much of a pain in the butt to work with. Worked out great for Marvel, because they made even better movies without him, but it takes a lot for someone to make you a billion dollars and say, yeah, you can go, we’re good.
If you run into an a**hole in the morning, you’ve run into an a**hole.
If everyone you’ve every worked with has said you are an a**hole, then YOU ARE THE A**HOLE.
I was waiting to see if someone quoted Raylan Givens (who obviously didn’t originate it) before I used the same line. It was the first thing I thought of when I read his interview.