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Charisma Carpenter Says Joss Whedon Abused His Power Buffy & Angel, Co-Stars Comment
Image Credit: Warner Bros. TV
Charisma Carpenter has called out Joss Whedon for displaying what she referred to as an “abuse of power” on the set of Angel, with several of her Buffy and Angel co-stars weighing in. Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase on Buffy for three seasons and Angel for four, posted to Instagram on Thursday discussing her experiences with Whedon in detail. Carpenter was famously written out of Angel in season four and she has alluded to conflicts with Whedon at that time over how her real-life pregnancy was handled, but Thursday’s post is the most detailed set of allegations that she’s made about the Buffy creator.
In the post, Carpenter alleges that Whedon “abused his power on numerous occasions while working 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.” She goes on to say that she decided to come forward and detail her story publicly after she willingly participated in Warner Bros.’ investigation into Ray Fisher’s claims of abusive behavior on the set of Justice League. Warner Bros’ investigation is reported, though not confirmed, to be the reason why Whedon exited his showrunner and executive producer role on HBO’s upcoming series The Nevers.
Carpenter said that Whedon had a “history of being casually cruel” and would play cast members against each other for his approval, threatening to fire her more than once and calling her “fat” at one point when she was four months pregnant and weighed 126 pounds. She wrote that he called her into a closed-door meeting when she learned he was pregnant on the set of Angel after he intentionally refused calls from his agents while they were trying to inform her of that, continuing:
‘In that closed-door meeting, he asked me if I was ‘going to keep it’ and manipulatively weaponised 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.”
Carpenter noted that Fisher’s being fired from The Flash was the last straw for her, noting, “Although I am not shocked, I am deeply pained by it. It troubles and saddens me that in 2021 professionals STILL have to choose between whistleblowing in the workplace and job security.”
Carpenter’s full post, with many more details, can be seen below. After she posted her story, Amber Benson who played Tara on Buffy chimed in to show her support, writing:
“Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top. @AllCharisma is speaking truth and I support her 100 per cent. There was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later. #IStandWithRayFisher #IStandWithCharismaCarpenter”
Sarah Michelle Gellar wrote in a staement on Instagram, “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. I am more focused on raising a family and surviving a pandemic currently, so I will not be making any further statements at this time. But I stand will all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out.” Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Dawn, shared Gellar’s statement and added:
“Thank you @sarahmgellar for saying this. I am brave enough now as a 35 year old woman… To repost this. Because. This must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior… Very. Not. Appropriate. So now. People know. What Joss. Did.”
Whedon has not responded to the allegations.
