Joss Whedon, "Buffy" creator and director of films including "The Avengers" and "Justice League," has denied allegations of misconduct brought forth by actors over the past two years.
Ray Fisher got the ball rolling in 2020 when he detailed his experience working on the set of "Justice League," saying that Whedon, who had stepped in as director following the departure of Zack Snyder, described the director as "gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable."
Gal Gadot, of "Wonder Woman" fame, also spoke out, saying that Whedon emotionally abused her and threatened to end her career.
In an interview with New York magazine, Whedon dismissed the allegations.
Addressing Fisher's claims that he had lightened his skin tone in "Justice League," wrote out several actors of color from the film and reduced his role as Cyborg, Whedon explained that he had brightened the entire film in post-production and cut down Cyborg's role because he was a bad actor, according to Deadline.
He further stated that Cyborg turned up as "the worst of all the characters in the film," according to test-screening viewers.
"We’re talking about a malevolent force … We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses," he said.
In response, Fisher took to Twitter to pass his own remarks on the matter.
"Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all … Rather than address all of the lies and buffoonery today — I will be celebrating the legacy of Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King Jr." he tweeted. "Tomorrow the work continues. #MLKDay. A>E."
In the interview, Whedon also spoke about Gadot's allegations, saying that she misunderstood what he was saying to her.
"I don’t threaten people. Who does that?" he said, explaining that "English is not her [Gadot's] first language" and that he tended to be "annoyingly flowery" in his speech, which led to the misunderstanding.
Whedon explained that, in response to Gadot's request to have a scene cut, he jokingly said she would have to tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body.
"Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track," Whedon said.
In an email to New York magazine, Gadot disagreed, saying that she "understood perfectly" what Whedon was saying.
Whedon went on to dismiss claims made by Charisma Carpenter, who said he had called her fat after she became pregnant while making "Buffy" and "Angel," and asked her if she was "going to keep it."
Whedon said he was bewildered by her account.
"Most of my experiences with Charisma were delightful and charming," he said. "She struggled sometimes with her lines, but nobody could hit a punch line harder than her." Whedon added that he "did not call her fat."