Charisma Carpenter claims Joss Whedon “abused his power on several occasions” while performing in Whedon’s series “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Angel.” In an extensive statement posted by the 50-year-old actor on Twitter on Wednesday, Carpenter claims that Whedon’s “comfortably cruel” behavior threatened, among other things, to fire her and called her “fat” when she was four months pregnant and asked her if she was going to “hold” her baby and fire her after she gave birth.
A Whedon representative declined to comment.
Most of Carpenter’s statement focuses on Whedon’s reaction when she learned that she was pregnant during the recording of the World Cup series ‘Angel’, which premiered in 1999 as an effect of ‘Buffy’. She alleges that after Whedon learned of her status, he took a “closed door meeting” with her after she “refused” her agency to communicate to her that she was pregnant.
‘[H]I wondered if I would ‘keep’ it and manipulated my womanhood and faith against me. He attacked my character, mocked my religious beliefs, accused me of sabotaging the show, and then fired me uninvolved after the season when I gave birth. ”
Carpenter says she then received a 1-hour call for work after her doctor recommended shortening her hours after she began experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions due to the ‘long and physically demanding days’. She says she believes the call at 1 p.m. was a retaliation. (Carpenter’s pregnancy was incorporated into the show’s plot.)
Following her experience of leaving ‘Angel’, Carpenter says she felt ‘powerless and alone’, especially as the ‘primary breadwinner’ for her family. ‘Unfortunately, it all happened during one of the most wonderful times.[s] in new motherhood, ”she writes. ‘All that promise and joy sucked right. And Joss was the vampire. ”
In her statement, Carpenter says she chose to come to light in light of Ray Fisher’s allegations that Whedon abused his power on the set of ‘Justice League’, which did a lengthy investigation by WarnerMedia last year. Carpenter says she took part in the investigation, and decided to come forward after Fisher announced that he would no longer appear as his “Justice League” character from Cyborg in the upcoming film “The Flash”.
“Although I’m not shocked, I’m in a lot of pain about it,” Carpenter writes. “It saddens me that in 2021, professionals will STILL have to choose between whistleblowing in the workplace and job security.”
Shortly after Carpenter posted her statement, “Buffy” actor Amber Benson expressed her support on Twitterand claims that the show was a ‘toxic environment and it starts from the top’.
“A lot of damage was done during that time and many of us still process it twenty years later,” Benson wrote.
Fisherman too expressed support for Carpenter and call her ‘one of the bravest people I know’.
Carpenter’s full statement is below.
My truth. #IStandWithRayFisher pic.twitter.com/eNjYcJ6zwP
– charisma carpenter (@AllCharisma) 10 February 2021
– charisma carpenter (@AllCharisma) 10 February 2021
More to come.