Joss Whedon’s New York Magazine cover interview was disturbing at so many levels. Here was a guy who was a hero, icon and nerd-god to so many people, and he spent decades abusing his power, treating women like sh-t and being completely racist… and he really has zero explanation for any of it. I mean, he tried! In the NY Mag piece, he tried to explain away his abuse and toxicity… by being even more toxic, by saying outright that Charisma Carpenter lied about him, that Ray Fisher is a bad actor, that he (Whedon) was powerless to resist sleeping with young women working for him on his shows. Oh, and he also suggested that Gal Gadot’s isn’t even fluent enough in English to understand how he verbally threatened her career.
Well, Charisma Carpenter issued a statement, standing with Ray Fisher, defending Gal Gadot and saying that Whedon is a “tyrannical narcissistic boss who is still unable to be accountable and just apologize.”
— charisma carpenter (@AllCharisma) January 18, 2022
— charisma carpenter (@AllCharisma) January 18, 2022
Yep. Hard agree. As for Ray Fisher, he retweeted Charisma and said #IStandWithCharismaCarpenter and pointed out that NY Magazine “should be ashamed for regurgitating this nonsense.” There’s a lot of energy towards that in the wake of the Whedon piece’s publication: why was it written as sympathetic towards Whedon? Why didn’t NY Magazine give more space to Whedon’s victims? Why did Whedon get the last word in the article? I understand both sides of this – I do think it was fascinating to basically watch Whedon, in real time, deflect constantly to how hard everything has been on him, to see him somewhat fact-checked within the piece. The writer, Lila Shapiro, didn’t spoon-feed her analysis to readers. She wasn’t doing asides of “wow, this guy is a toxic douche.” She let other people say that. Do I think the piece was couched in too much sympathy for Whedon? Kind of. But I understood why she wrote it that way.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA – JANUARY 23: Screenwriter Joss Whedon arrives at the Los Angeles Art Show 2019 Opening Night Gala held at the Los Angeles Convention Center on January 23, 2019 in Los Angeles, California, United States.,Image: 535184142, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289 – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For querie, Model Release: no, Credit line: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency / Xavier Collin / Avalon 
Actress Charisma Carpenter arrives at the 45th Annual Saturn Awards held at Avalon Hollywood on September 13, 2019 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, United States. (Photo by David Acosta/Image Press Agency),Image: 537336424, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251, Model Release: no, Credit line: David Acosta/Image Press Agency / Image Press Agency / Avalon 
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