“Buffy the Vampire Slayer” creator Joss Whedon has faced multiple workplace misconduct allegations from several stars across his productions in recent years.
Evan Ross Katz’s new book about the iconic ’90s fantasy series, “Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How ‘Buffy’ Staked Our Hearts,” is full of cast and crew interviews about Whedon’s behavior.
In the show retrospective, actor Danny Strong, who played the role of Jonathan Levinson, discussed that the accusations against the “Justice League” writer were “far beyond” what he noticed at the time, IndieWire reported.
The vampire romantic drama aired from 1997 to 2003 on The WB and UPN for seven seasons.
Strong, 47, noted in the book, “Look, my experience on the set was a very positive experience, including my interactions with Joss. And so I wasn’t aware of how toxic the set was for some.”
Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase in “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and its spinoff series, “Angel,” accused Whedon of “toxic” and “hostile” behavior towards her in a bombshell social media post last year.
“Empire” creator Strong continued in the book, “And it seems like who it was toxic for was the really attractive women. That was who he was creating really unpleasant working experiences for. And it’s not in your typical sexual-harasser way, even.”
“These stories, they’re sort of atypical in creating this petty, almost high-school-like environment in pitting the pretty girls all against each other. I’m sure there’s a lot of psychological depth about what that says about Joss,” Strong continued.
He also mentioned that the “Nevers” creator’s nature wouldn’t have changed if he had more Hollywood experience.
Strong explained, “I think that this mentality that we’re seeing in [Whedon] is kind of like this high school nerd who’s angry that the pretty girls didn’t like him and he gets older and he’s gonna lash out at the pretty girls or hook up with some of the pretty girls, and the pretty girls that don’t want to hook up with him he’s going to lash out at them in some way or turn other girls against them.”
The “Hunger Games: Mockingjay” writer also noted about Whedon, “I just want to say if you’re in your mid-30s, f–k you. That’s not an excuse. You should know better by then. You’re very rich. You’re very successful. Give me a f–king break that you’re still talking about being the high school nerd that didn’t get the girls. It’s not an excuse to mistreat people.”
The Post has reached out to Whedon for comment.
Carpenter, 51, alleged last year that on the sets of both teen shows, Whedon “abused his power” and called her “fat” when she was four months pregnant.
The titular star of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” Sarah Michelle Gellar, spoke out after Carpenter’s post went viral, writing 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 stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out.”