Joss Whedon Denies The Misconduct Allegations Against Him From Ray Fisher And Gal Gadot

Alleged shitbag and writer/director Joss Whedon talked to New York Magazine in an article titled: “Hollywood’s fallen feminist nerd King struggles to explain himself.” I think that last part is highly accurate since this interview is a struggle and sees Joss explaining cutting Ray Fisher‘s role in Justice League because Ray is a bad actor, and says Gal Gadot only thought he was threatening her career because English isn’t her first language. Leave it to Joss Whedon to come off like an asshole while defending the allegations that he’s an asshole.

Joss Whedon’s interview is, I’m assuming, damage control for all the news that came out about him recently–like how he was an asshole on-set of Justice League after taking over from Zack Snyder, and how he wanted Ray Fisher to portray Cyborg like the snappy Black comedic relief. And that’s just the JL stuff, Variety also found out how much of a prick he allegedly was on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel in the early 2000s, including Michelle Trachtenberg saying he wasn’t allowed to be alone with her when she was a then-14-year-old actress on Buffy. Warner Bros. investigated him and he was even dropped from his flop HBO show, The Nevers. Not sure why Joss thought that now doubling-down on the assholery would be a good idea, but maybe he thought to fight fire with fire?

Joss first starts by pointing a finger and says that he’s never worked with “a ruder group of people” than when he did reshoots for JL. And he explains Gal’s issues by saying that he talks very “flowery” and because English isn’t Gal’s first language, it was probably just a “misunderstanding,” via The Independent:

“I don’t threaten people. Who does that?” he said. Whedon recalled arguing with Gadot over a scene she wanted to cut. He claims that he told the Wonder Woman star that, for the scene to be cut, she would have to tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body.

He added: “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech. Then I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track.”

Responding to Whedon’s claim, Gadot told the outlet: “I understood perfectly.”

In Zack Snyder’s cut of Justice League, which was eventually released, Ray Fisher’s character Cyborg took on a more central role which was reportedly the original plan. But in the interview, Joss says he reduced Ray’s role for plot reasons and adds that Ray is a shit actor. via Super Hero Hype:

According to Whedon, he cut many of Fisher’s scenes as Cyborg because he felt that his storyline “logically made no sense.” He also felt that Fisher’s acting was bad, but indicated that their conversations were friendly and respectful. Whedon added that none of Fisher’s claims were “either true or merited discussing.”

Whedon also offered his own explanation for why Fisher made his accusations against him. “We’re talking about a malevolent force,” said Whedon. “We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.”

Then there’s this part of the interview where Joss says he was powerless to have on-set affairs with women despite the power dynamics:

This interview makes Joss Whedon seem an even worse person lmaoooo pic.twitter.com/1IKycW4VE0

— Arafat (@Zeus_TheAlpha) January 17, 2022

If Joss Whedon’s mission with this interview was to come off worse, then mission accomplished! And the official soundtrack to this interview is the sound of Joss’ PR person banging their head against the wall.

Pic: Brian To/Wenn.com