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Firefly Writer: Whedon Found Making Female Writers Cry "Hysterical"
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel stars Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy Summers), Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn Summers), Amber Benson (Tara Maclay), Emma Caulfield (Anya), Anthony Head (Rupert Giles), Eliza Dushku (Faith), James Marsters (Spike) and J. August Richards (Charles Gunn), as well as writer Marti Noxon (who wrote 24 episodes of Buffy between 1997-2002 and the Angel episode "She" in 2000) have spent the past few days offering their support for co-star Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia) after she went public with accusations against Joss Whedon involving years of unprofessional and abusive behavior. Now, Firefly writer Jose Molina has taken to social media to not just offer Carpenter his support but also his perspective on working with Whedon. The writer of Firefly Season 1 episodes "Ariel" and "Trash" retweeted Benson's earlier show of support from earlier in the week, adding his own claims against Whedon. "'Casually cruel' is a perfect way of describing Joss. He thought being mean was funny," Molina wrote in his tweet. "Making female writers cry during a notes session was especially hysterical. He actually liked to boast about the time he made one writer cry twice in one meeting."
Here's a look at Molina's original tweet, followed by a look back at how all of this began earlier this week:
After living with the experience for "nearly two decades" before speaking up, Carpenter claimed in her social media posts, "Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working on the sets of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel.' While he found his conduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively." You can read Carpenter's entire statement below, where the actress goes on to offer examples of her allegations as well as revealing that she took part in WarnerMedia's investigation into Fisher's claims.
Here's a look at the Buffy and Angel star's original tweets from earlier today:
On July 1, 2020, Fisher aka Cyborg took to Twitter to accuse Whedon of being abusive on the 2017 set not long after Whedon took over from Zack Snyder (who left the production due to a family tragedy), and that two other executives helped enable Whedon's alleged actions. WarnerMedia opened an investigation into Fisher's allegations, but in early September the company claimed that Fished wasn't cooperating with third-party investigators Fisher denied those claims, while friends co-stars such as Jason Mamoa began publically supporting Fisher and demanding WarnerMedia take action.
Then on November 24, word came down from Whedon that he was stepping away from his upcoming HBO series The Nevers. Whedon cited "the level of commitment required moving forward, combined with the physical challenges of making such a huge show during a global pandemic" as being a major factor in his decision. "This year of unprecedented challenges has impacted my life and perspective in ways I could never have imagined, and while developing and producing the Nevers has been a joyful experience, I realize that the level of commitment required moving forward, combined with the physical challenges of making such a huge show during a global pandemic, is more than I can handle without the work beginning to suffer. I am genuinely exhausted and am stepping back to martial my energy towards my own life, which is also at the brink of exciting change," Whedon wrote in his own statement. HBO confirmed in a brief statement that it had parted ways with the show's creator, writer, director, executive producer, and showrunner. "We have parted ways with Joss Whedon. We remain excited about the future of The Nevers and look forward to its premiere," wrote the cable network in a statement.