It’s been well over a year since actors Ray Fisher and Charisma Carpenter shared their personal experiences of Joss Whedon’s alleged actions on the sets of Justice League, Buffy The Vampire Slayer, and Angel. In a Vulture profile published earlier this week, Whedon finally responded to these claims. However, Carpenter and Fisher quickly called out Whedon for what they viewed as an inability to be “accountable” and “apologize.”
In the Vulture piece, Whedon called Fisher a “bad actor” and stated his claims were not “true or merited discussing.” Whedon also calls his experience working with Carpenter “delightful and charming” even though Carpenter previously detailed Whedon’s alleged “history of being casually cruel.”
Carpenter showed support for Fisher and called out Whedon for his words in Vulture, writing, “#IStandWithRayFisher, the ‘malevolent force’ and ‘bad actor in both senses’ who poisoned my mind with trendy buzzwords and corrupt ideas about my experiences with a former tyrannical narcissistic boss who is still unable to be accountable and just apologize.”
In a statement of his own, Fisher shared similar words of support for Carpenter and wrote, #IStandWithCharismaCarpenter who (like this ‘bad actor in both senses’) has no agency in determining matters of abuse or race, but for the influence of a White male shadow puppeteer.”
Carpenter also issued a statement defending Gal Gadot, who last year said Whedon allegedly made attempts to threaten her career while filming Justice League. Gadot also said Whedon accused her of not understanding English well enough.
In response to Gadot’s claims Whedon told Vulture, “I don’t threaten people. Who does that? English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.”
“I believe Gal Gadot not only understands career threats in English but Hebrew and Arabic. Possibly French, Spanish, and Italian too,” Carpenter’s statement read.