Given the opportunity to answer allegations of grievous misbehavior — including claims of sexist remarks and racist actions — on his sets, Joss Whedon copped to affairs (saying he "had" to have them) and situations he "should have handled better" in his personal life, but disputed claims from the likes of actors Gal Gadot, Ray Fisher and others. He dismissed Fisher's complaints as those of a "bad actor." In Gadot's case, he suggested the Israeli actor had misunderstood him because "English is not her first language."
In an extensive New York magazine profile by Lila Shapiro, Whedon offered his first detailed public responses to the negative reports, which began arising in the summer of 2020 and have encompassed not just the disastrous "Justice League" film, but also "Buffy the Vampire Slayer," the television show that made his fame.
Ray Fisher, whose "Justice League" role as the superhero Cyborg was drastically reduced when the film's director reins went from Zack Snyder to Whedon, has made multiple public statements accusing the writer-director of "abusive, unprofessional" actions on set. In one tweet, he wrote the director's "on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable."
