In the first half of 2024, DeMayo was fired from the show for what Disney eventually described as “egregious” behavior; DeMayo claimed he was subject to prejudicial treatment as a gay, Black man. In the new story, DeMayo maintains this, saying that after he worked on the scrapped Blade movie and returned to X-Men ’97, “Some of those racist, sexist, homophobic vibes that I was getting before Blade became much more explicit.” He recalls one day getting a phone call from Disney’s HR department and being informed that a coworker had accused him of misconduct; DeMayo says that he wasn’t aware that he was under investigation before the call. “It’s been very traumatic,” he told the outlet in the second half of 2024. “I thought I was in a safe space, and then quickly found out that I was not in a safe space.”
Though Vanity Fair reports that DeMayo stopped responding to them in early 2025, the outlet also reports that his online, and specifically his OnlyFans, presence grew gradually more explicit. (One of DeMayo’s initial public rebuttals to Disney and Marvel was posted on his OnlyFans page, BeaunlyFans.) Of course, having an explicit OnlyFans account does not inherently indicate professional misconduct, and DeMayo says the account “was cleared” with Marvel, which told him, “As long as you’re not advertising the show on your OnlyFans, as long as you’re keeping it very separate from the content of the show, it’s outside of their purview.”
A couple of people who spoke to Vanity Fair on background and are attributed as friends or colleagues of DeMayo are willing to acknowledge, fairly bluntly, that his posting hasn’t helped his case. One friend called him “the most talented writer I know” but said the OnlyFans “is not going to make it easier for him. If you were a white straight dude, would this kill his career as well? I don’t know.” One person calls him “a deeply insecure person” and says, “This bad shit is happening to you. But if you just stopped tweeting, a lot of it would go away.” One other former colleague claims, “So much of it is just this narcissistic need for people to watch him.” Still, it’s worth remembering that we don’t know who these people are and DeMayo’s litigation with Disney is ongoing. His case against Marvel is scheduled to go to trial in July 2027, so we probably won’t learn many more concrete details before then. In the meantime, you can read Vanity Fair‘s whole report here.
Keep scrolling for more great stories.