Director Joss Whedon has addressed allegations of abusive behavior for the first time in a new interview, denying any wrongdoing.
"If I'm bothering someone, it's going to be a problem for me," 57-year-old Whedon told New York magazine about his reasoning for his behavior on the set of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and its spinoff "Angel." Why was it described negatively? were not entirely factual and their intentions were not malicious.
"I don't believe him," he said, shaking his head in response to a costume designer's accusation that he had held her hand. "I know I'd get angry, but I was never physically with people."
He also denied an allegation by "a high-level member of the Buffy" production team that he allegedly once worked with an actress on an office floor.
“It sounds false. I don’t understand that story in the slightest,” he said, rubbing his face, before removing his glasses, telling the reporter that he needed to go to the bathroom and then, upon his return, further explaining that This did not make sense because he "lived in terror" to find out his affairs.
However, in those cases, he admitted to having less and regret. Whedon was married to Kai Cole from 1995 to 2016. Cole accused her ex-husband of "multiple affairs" with his young female talents in a scathing letter published in 2017.
“I think the f—king about him is terrible,” he said, adding that affairs like this with a director “create a power dynamic.” He defended his decision to keep them with him at the time, however, noting that he felt he had to sleep with the beautiful young women he was surrounded by and was "powerless" to resist.
Reporters laughed at the comment, to which Whedon replied: "I'm not really kidding."
"He was surrounded by beautiful young women—the kind of women he ignored at a young age—and feared that if he didn't have sex with them, he would 'always regret it,'" New York magazine reported. "Looking back, they feel ashamed and 'horror'," he said.
Representatives for Whedon did not return the Post's request for further comment.
Trouble began for Whedon last February when "Buffy" actress Karisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase, and then Michelle Trachtenberg — who played Sarah Michelle Gellar's younger sister, Don Summers — made blatant claims of alleged abusive behavior. appeared with.
"Joss Whedon abused his power on several occasions while working on the sets of 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' and 'Angel'," Carpenter, 51, claimed at the time. “While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disabling me, and isolating me from my peers. The disturbing events led to a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer It is with a throbbing, heavy heart that I say that I coped in isolation and sometimes disastrously."
"I was not in the manner," Whedon told New York Magazine of Carpenter's allegations. “Most of my experiences with Karisma were delightful and engaging. She struggled with her lines at times, but no one could hit a more difficult punch line than her.”
Meanwhile, Trachtenberg came out to say that "there was a rule" that Whedon "wasn't allowed to go into a room alone," the now 35-year-old actress, who was 15 when she starred on the show. .
David Boreanaz and Sarah Michelle Gellar both stood in solidarity with their co-stars.
"While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I do not want to be associated with the name Joss Whedon forever," Geller, 44, wrote. "I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud to speak out."
Elsewhere in a lengthy New York Magazine article, Whedon also denied allegations made by "Justice League" stars Ray Fisher and Gal Gadot. The director said that 34-year-old Fischer is a "bad actor" and raised Gadot's issues, 36, to a communication issue.
He claimed, "English is not his first language, and I am fuming with anger in my speech."
Whedon told the magazine that he felt as though he had calculated correctly with none of his errors and was now facing unfounded abuse at the hands of the public.
"I think I'm one of the best listeners I've ever heard," he explained, explaining that he was made a concern and acknowledged that people use "every weaponized word of the modern era." By making it simple to make it look like I was a disgraceful monster."