Joss Whedon, mogul of movies and tv, has already long been in the doghouse since his earnestly professed feminism turned out to be a sham on the revelation of hidden marital infidelities he had claimed no temptation towards. (A divorce followed.) Now he has been accused of power abuse and cruel and toxic workplace behavior by Charisma Carpenter, one of the stars of Whedon's renowned early TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. (She played Cordelia, if you need a scorecard.) This followed similar accusations made last year by Ray Fisher, who performed in a recent Whedon-directed movie, but which hadn't received much attention.
Carpenter has received public support from several other women who performed in Buffy, notably Michelle Trachtenberg, then a teenager, who reports that "there was a rule" that Whedon was not allowed to be alone with her. No further details.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, the show's principal star, writes in her tweet of support that "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."
How to separate the two is the topic of this article which I would encourage all concerned fans of the show to read. (It has links to all of the above items.) However much Buffy may have been instigated and overseen by Whedon, the show as we have it was the creation of a vast array of talented people - actors, writers, and technical and production staff of all sorts - and their work should not be dismissed because of this.
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