UPDATE: Charisma Carpenter accuses Joss Whedon of emotional abuse on Buffy The Vampire Slayer, Angel sets
Last year, Justice League actor Ray Fisher took to Twitter to call out Joss Whedon for “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior on the movie’s set. He also claimed that Whedon was enabled by producers Geoff Johns and Jon Berg. The actor did not share further details, but Berg told Variety that Fisher’s accusations were “categorically untrue.”
Now, Charisma Carpenter has spoken out on social media about the alleged abusive treatment she experienced at the hands of Whedon while filming Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
“For nearly two decades, I have held my tongue and even made excuses for certain events that traumatized me to this day,” she wrote. “Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. 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, whose character Cordelia was killed off from Angel in a controversial childbirth scene, also opened up about Whedon’s alleged targeted abuse when the actor became pregnant:
“Joss intentionally refused multiple calls from my agents making it impossible to connect with him to tell him the news that I was pregnant. Finally, once Joss was apprised of the situation, he requested meeting with me. In that closed-door meeting, he asked me if I was ‘going to keep it’ and manipulatively weaponized my womanhood and faith against me. He proceeded to attack my character, mock my religious beliefs, accuse me of sabotaging the show, and then unceremoniously fired me the following season once I gave birth.”
Amber Benson, who played Tara on Buffy the Vampire Slayer, showed her support towards Carpenter on Twitter, saying Buffy “was a toxic environment and it starts at the top.”