The Joss Whedon scandal refuses to die down, with ‘Angel’ and ‘Buffy the Vampire Slayer’ alum David Boreanaz being the latest celebrity to come out and support co-star Charisma Carpenter’s allegations against the showrunner.
“I am here for you to listen and support you,” Boreanaz said in reply to Carpenter’s original post about the abuse she received from Whedon. “Proud of your strength,” he added.
Boreanaz played the lead in ‘Buffy’ before leaving in the show’s fourth season to star in the spin-off series ‘Angel’. Carpenter also made a similar shift, reprising her character Cordelia Chase in the spin-off for four seasons before disappearing. She finally had a cameo in the show’s fifth season.
On February 10, Carpenter put up a detailed post about the abuse she allegedly suffered at the hands of Whedon while working on the shows, stating that she was discriminated against for being pregnant and had to suffer emotional abuse and berating before being fired from ‘Angel’.
“Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” Carpenter tweeted earlier this week. “While he found his misconduct 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,” Carpenter posted.
The post immediately drew support from Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played Buffy on the show. “While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon,” Gellar shared Wednesday on Instagram. “I am more focused on raising my family and surviving a pandemic currently, so I will not be making any further statements at this time. But I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out,” she wrote.
Co-star Michelle Trachtenberg reposted Gellar’s statement and also spoke out against the showrunner and creator of the shows.
In a social media post, Trachtenberg claimed that Whedon wasn’t allowed to be alone with her on set, joining the growing chorus of claims that have called him out for bad behaviour, which includes ‘Justice League’ star Ray Fisher.
A ‘Justice League’ investigation was launched by WarnerMedia following Fisher’s comments, which Carpenter stated that she was also a part of. That probe was completed in December, and “remedial action has been taken” as a result, according to Warner Bros.
