You are talking to a woman who has laughed in the face of death, sneered at doom and chuckled at catastrophe.
...Collector of Chairs. Reader of Books. Hater of Nutmeg...
Joss Whedon the director for Buffy and Justice League accused of Racism and Sexual Misconduct
https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlo...minist-legacy/
Through my late teens and early 20s, I owned a T-shirt that read in big, chunky letters, “Joss Whedon Is My Master Now.” It was one of the first pieces of clothing I ever owned that signified not only my aesthetic tastes but also what I considered my intellectual identity. Above all else, it announced my affection for the man who had created “Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” At the time, Whedon’s innovative cult franchise defined feminism and feminine clout for legions of young fans. It tackled everything from the intricacies of female power to the meaning of death itself, all the while pumping out metatextual one-liners. And Whedon — more than the stars of his shows or the characters they embodied — was the face of all that heart-wrenching, revelatory brilliance.
While I will always love the show for redefining the parameters of TV writing, I can no longer see it as I once did — partly because I no longer see Whedon as I did when I was a teenager. Earlier this week, former “Buffy” and “Angel” co-star Charisma Carpenter released a statement claiming that Whedon had mistreated and eventually fired her from “Angel” after she gave birth in the early 2000s. She writes that Whedon “has created hostile and toxic work environments since his early career. I know because I experienced it firsthand. Repeatedly.” She says that Whedon called her “fat” in the early months of her pregnancy, despite her relatively low body weight, and that he scorned the importance of this major life event, even going as far to ask her if she was “going to keep it.” Carpenter reports now living with a chronic physical condition that she says was initially brought on by working with Whedon.
The irony is nearly too much to bear. In my young mind, Whedon was the alpha and omega of self-reflexive serialized storytelling, offering a knowing critique of the way women had been presented on screen for too long, even as he seemed to propose something new. I wasn’t alone in thinking so: More than 20 years after it debuted, “Buffy” is still revered for its groundbreaking girl-power legacy, considered something of a pop-feminist urtext by academics, critics and ordinary fans alike. Yet despite developing some of the most complex female characters that ever aired on the small screen — existential-chosen-one Buffy, introspective-queer-witch Willow, cupidinous-former-demon Anya — it’s impossible not to now recognize Whedon’s troubling career-long penchant for telling stories about slight young women whose primary strength happens to be their prodigious physical prowess.
Whedon’s public reputation had already dimmed in recent years, thanks to accusations about his on-set behavior, allegations of philandering and critiques of casually misogynistic storytelling. Carpenter’s candid summary of her professional relationship with Whedon echoes much of this. Tellingly, former “Buffy” castmates Sarah Michelle Gellar, Michelle Trachtenberg, Amber Benson and Emma Caulfield have all affirmed their support for Carpenter.
Grasping the sheer authority Whedon has wielded over vulnerable young women throughout his decades in Hollywood, I cringe thinking about the creepy words on a fan T-shirt I once prized. Over the past decade, as more female, nonbinary and trans auteurs have produced personalized television series that confront how gender has impacted their lives, I’ve slowly realized that Whedon’s visions of on-screen feminism often amounted to a reductive, masculinized conception of what it means to be a forceful woman. In other words, as I wrote in my review of Netflix’s “Buffy”-lite occult drama “Warrior Nun”: It was a hetero “male fantasy of muscular, hot-girl matriarchy,” in which female “empowerment” is really a convenient supplement to male desire. Even today, the image of a slender and alluring young woman kicking butt is seen as the apotheosis of the archetypical strong female character, from the scantily clad warriors of the Zack Snyder flick “Sucker Punch” to Katniss Everdeen in the Hunger Games series to the superheroic women of the Marvel and DC film franchises. It’s a paradigm wherein women’s strength is apparently defined by our willingness to commit violence, and Whedon played a central role in cementing its place in our culture.
Whedon has long been fascinated with the purported contradiction of watching a small, cute and magical teenage girl beating up hulking bad guys. The quintessential visual tableau of “Buffy” involves 5-foot-4-inch tall Gellar engaging in full combat with a snarling vampire or two in the middle of a graveyard, pummeling them into submission and taking plenty of thrashings herself before finally stabbing them into dust with her trusted wooden stake, Mr. Pointy. But he’s also repeated this motif time and time again in “Firefly,” “Dollhouse,” “Avengers: Age of Ultron” and, by all appearances, his forthcoming series “The Nevers.” He hinged the political potency of “Buffy” on his protagonist’s extraordinary physicality — all the while presenting her and practically every other teen girl on the show as a sexy, slender, midriff-bearing pixie. As such, it turns my stomach to read Carpenter’s allegations. Was the show ever really invested in revolutionizing the narratives of victimhood? Or was it primarily about putting desirable young women on display?
For many young viewers — and I was one of them — watching an unapologetically femme former cheerleader knock around Big Bads every week rewrote every damsel in distress stereotype we’d been conditioned to believe. After all, horror traditionally kills the sexy girls first and lets the virgins save the day. As Whedon has claimed, “The idea of Buffy was to subvert that idea, that image, and create someone who was a hero where she had always been a victim.” But even as he did, he was playing into other, potentially more disconcerting ideas about normative femininity. Buffy was roughly age 15-17 during the most beloved seasons of the series, while Gellar was firmly in her 20s, a casting decision that further reinforced the cultural fiction of teen girls’ sexual maturity and availability. Say what you will about controversial action star Gina Carano, but at least her solid frame exhibits a body type beyond a ′90s jailbait illusion.
Perhaps more importantly, in undercutting the damsel in distress trope, Whedon and his writing team created a flawed new one: the girl who can deal out punishment partly because she takes so much abuse, one who can absorb everything you throw at her, only to spout a retort while spitting blood and kicking you in the crotch. Come on, she seems to say, I can take it. In the later seasons of “Buffy,” Whedon literally kills and resurrects his heroine, ripping her out of heaven so she can return to Earth and reluctantly avert the apocalypse once again. Buffy’s revivification traumatizes her, leading to self-harm, depression and emotional calluses that play out until the series finale. It’s a narrative ethos that suggests that maturing into womanhood means growing emotionally numb. You can see the remnants of Buffy’s detachment in the blonde teen sleuth who leads “Veronica Mars” and the blonde teen witch who leads “Chilling Adventures of Sabrina” and the blonde teen assassin who leads “Hanna.” Not all of them fight, but they each weaponize their chilly resolve.
It’s a vision of empowerment riven with loss, an argument that women’s psychological stamina should cost us our ability to feel fully and deeply. While I am increasingly skeptical about the way this trope underwrites our stories of feminine power, I cannot help but feel an inkling of it in myself when I contemplate the man I once called “master.” Through his work on “Buffy,” Whedon asked me to question who I’m willing to accept as my heroes. His lessons have never been more resonant.
https://deadline.com/2021/02/joss-wh...ia-1234694314/
Here is the sparking point for the Joss Whedon Allegations to surface originally due to Ray Fisher accusing Whedon of a Toxic Environment and allegations of racism initially.
As more and more allegations of misconduct from Buffy the Vampire Slayer alum and controversy surround Joss Whedon, the Justice League director and some of Warner Bros.’ top brass are once again in Ray Fisher’s social media spotlight.
Tonight, the Cyborg actor tweeted in his continued reaming of the studio over its handling of the investigation of Whedon and his alleged behavior during the Justice League production, “There’s only one reason that I haven’t been sued by Joss Whedon, Toby Emmerich, Geoff Johns, Jon Berg, or Walter Hamada: They know I’m telling the truth. A>E.”
While Fisher has been slamming Whedon on social for his “gross and abusive” Justice League behavior since the summer of 2020, the Buffy creator and Avengers’ director’s already tainted star further crashed to Earth following Buffy actress Charisma Carpenter’s recent claims that Whedon’s behavior caused a toxic environment on set and “triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer.” Last week, Carpenter said that her decision to speak out publicly stemmed from her involvement in the WarnerMedia investigation into Justice League.
In addition to Carpenter, Buffy actress Michelle Trachtenberg also made startling accusations against CAA-repped Whedon, expressed in an online post “I am brave enough now as a 35 year old woman….To repost this. Because. This must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior….very. Not. Appropriate” adding “What he did was very bad. But we win. By surviving!”
In a later re-editing of her initial post, Trachtenberg added: “The last. Comment I will make on this. Was. There was a rule. Saying. He’s not allowed in a room alone with Michelle again.
Buffy title star Sarah Michelle Gellar and series producer and showrunner Marti Noxon expressed their support for the actress’ and their claims against Whedon last week. Eliza Dushku posted admiration and allegiance for Carpenter on February 11 as did her Buffy and Angel star and current SEAL Team lead David Boreanaz yesterday.
Fisher’s latest social media salvo also picks up on allegations he made against Warner and DC Entertainment executives over what he has termed “enabling of Whedon” during the reshoots on the initially Zack Snyder-directed film. A few weeks after Whedon exited from his HBO Max project The Nevers, WarnerMedia announced on December 11 that the “investigation into the Justice League movie has concluded and remedial action has been taken.”
Following more fireworks from Fisher against Hamada and others and his now non-participation in The Flash movie, the AT&T-owned company made another statement. “As has been previously stated, an extensive investigation was conducted by an outside law firm, led by a former federal judge who has assured WarnerMedia that there were no impediments to the investigation,” a WarnerMedia spokesperson said on January 14. “Last summer, Mr. Fisher was offered the opportunity to reprise his role as Cyborg in The Flash. Given his statement that he will not participate in any film associated with Mr. Hamada, our production is now moving on.” WarnerMedia chair and CEO also threw her support behind Hamada, who wasn’t involved in the Justice League production when Whedon was working on it, saying ““I believe in Walter Hamada and that he did not impede or interfere in the investigation.”
As all this back and forth is going on, Fisher has been a big participant in reshoots for Zack Snyder’s Justice League as he was on set for several days per sources, and was prominently featured in the trailer released yesterday – a trailer he reposted on his social media accounts.
Zack Snyder’s Justice League debuts March 18 on HBO Max.
WarnerMedia declined to comment on today’s tweet from Fisher when contacted by Deadline.
Fisher’s tweet against Whedon and the WB execs wasn’t his only appearance on social media today. The Cyborg actor also posted a very long walk in the snowstorm slamming Mississippi (as it is many places across the USA on Monday) on his Instagram account touting the trailer, HBO Max and telling everyone in the end to watch Zack Snyder’s Justice League.
https://www.nickiswift.com/333866/th...f-joss-whedon/
. Like other famous liberals during the Donald Trump presidency, Joss Whedon was terminally online expressing his displeasure with all things Trump. In January 2017, Whedon came under fire for seemingly comparing Ivanka Trump to a dog. "Hey, keep your eyes on this f**king prize too. He's a Voldemort in training, & unlike the Pekingese he married under, can play the long game," he tweeted, accompanied with a picture of Donald with Ivanka's husband, Jared Kushner.
Naturally, Whedon got pushback on social media for his comparison. "Wow calling his wife a dog? I guess it's OK to demean women as long as you don't like them or their husbands, eh?" said one user (via The Hollywood Reporter). Another added: "This from the man who prides himself on being such a great feminist. Unreal. I guess just liberal women. Typical."
Whedon's controversial tweet got so much attention that he needed to issue a follow-up. ".@HuffingtonPost 'the Pekingese he married under' refers to his ugly yappy father-in-law, not Ivanka. Can't believe I have to explain that," he tweeted. Whether or not he meant Ivanka or her then-presidential father, there's a long list of things one might criticize them for other than their looks. Let's start there.
In yet another tweet published in January 2017, Joss Whedon fired off a post about former Congressman Paul Ryan that some might consider classless. "Violence solves nothing. I want a rhino to f**k @SpeakerRyan to death with its horn because it's FUNNY, not because he's a #GOPmurderbro," he wrote in a since-deleted tweet (via Fox News). The take didn't go over well. "Good job on making your side seem even more unhinged & detached from reality," one user responded.
Three months later, Whedon shared another, um, "joke" that he thought was at Ryan's expense, but he ended up "inadvertently" mocking child cancer survivors. Yikes. But let's back up a bit: Ryan had posted a photo of himself shaking hands with a group of young people, with the caption, "Advocacy is not limited to adults. These Wisconsin teens shared some powerful stories with me about their fight against childhood cancer."
Whedon's response to this moment? "Tonight on White House Wife Hunt, Donny makes host P. Ryan give 2 more contestants the 'Not a 10' card,'" Whedon wrote in the now-deleted tweet (via Digital Spy). Funny? No. Tactless? Yes. Then a rare thing happened — Whedon offered an apology (kinda). "So I tweeted something that inadvertently offended everyone except the people I was trying to offend. I'm sorry. I'll be quiet for a bit," he tweeted.
After Ray Fisher went public with his allegations against Joss Whedon, another one of his Justice League co-stars, Gal Gadot, went public with hers, as well. "I'm happy for Ray to go out and speak his truth," Gadot told the Los Angeles Times in December 2020. "I wasn't there with the guys when they shot with Joss Whedon — I had my own experience with [him], which wasn't the best one, but I took care of it there and when it happened. I took it to the higher-ups and they took care of it. But I'm happy for Ray to go up and say his truth."
Gadot didn't elaborate on exactly what the experience was, but according to popular YouTube film reviewer Grace Randolph, Gadot's issue was reportedly the way Whedon wanted to film a particular scene — specifically a shot of Ezra Miller (who plays The Flash) landing on top of Gadot during a battle scene in the middle of the film. The Wonder Woman star reportedly refused, but Whedon shot it anyway. "I doubt we'll ever get specifics from Ray Fisher re Joss Whedon, but here's one I was the first to report: Gal Gadot didn't want to film this scene, so Whedon did it w/ a stunt double. That's why you can't see her face," Randolph claimed on Twitter.
While this allegation has yet to confirmed nor denied by Gadot or Whedon, feel free to take it with several grains of salt.
I dont give a flying fuck that Kim K and Kayne are getting divorced. Im sick of seeing it on my news feed. Oh and Kims a dumbass for filing for joint custody when Kayne is unstable as hell.
I wish they would just slip out of our sight and lexicon. They are boring and I don't care how much money they have they have the combined intelligence of a teetsy fly.
We were talking about Pat Sajak and the fact? that he's a jerk. And my friend was wondering how old people could put up with him, so I had to remind her of what passed for funny back in the day.
https://www.vice.com/en/article/akd9...eel-of-fortune
Pat Sajak Has Always Been a Dick
The longtime 'Wheel of Fortune' host is facing criticism this week after he seemed to imitate a contestant's speech impediment.
Pat Sajak Criticized Mocking Player
At the time of this writing, Pat Sajak's Twitter account only has a dozen tweets, and they're all the kind of empty aphorisms that boring people paint on signs to hang in their equally boring kitchens. "The real test of manners is facing bad ones with good ones," one tweet reads. "Nothing is more exhausting than anger. Nothing is more relaxing than love," another sighs.
He hasn't typed anything in over a week, and his most recent post is a 26-word fist-shake in the direction of...schadenfreude. "How nice for those who have lived such exemplary lives that they can express glee when others have their lives ruined by a mistake, real or perceived," he harrumphed. He doesn't specify who or what he's talking about, but given Sajak's ultra-conservative politics, it's probably Ted Cruz, Gina Carano, or somebody else who sucks.
That tweet also feels strangely prescient, since the longtime 'Wheel of Fortune' host is facing criticism this week, after he seemed to imitate a contestant who had a speech impediment. During Monday's episode of the show, Sajak introduced Chris Brimble, who appeared to speak with a slight lisp. When responding to Brimble, Sajak said "I thee," instead of "I see," which is the kind of dick move you'd expect from an 8-year-old playground bully, not a 74-year-old who makes a reported $15 million a year to pretend he's excited every time somebody asks for an H.
Sajak has been roundly dragged on social media since the episode aired. "As someone with a lisp- don't do this. Ever," one woman tweeted. "We might ignore you or laugh it off at the time but HOLY CRAP how about some tact?" Others called him an "arrogant overpaid jerk," or wondered whether he was "purposely trying to get fired."
This isn't the first time that some of Sajak's onscreen comments have been scrutinized (more on that in a sec), but this seems different. Literally imitating a contestant to his face is personal and gross, and it seems harder to shrug off than other recent examples of his saltiness.
During a strange 10-day stretch last fall, Sajak chastised a contestant for "interrupting" while he read a promo from Dicks Sporting Goods, and told another to stop "making sound effects" after they let out a celebratory yelp. He also called another "ungrateful" for suggesting that the use of the term "kitchen oven" in a puzzle seemed redundant. "Don't! You won! Don't argue," Sajak shouted. "You got the puzzle. Ungrateful players! I've had it!?
Everyone's interpretation of those incidents might differ based on how they feel about Sajak himself. Longtime 'Wheel'-watchers might think it's all funny, or that it's just part of the "beleaguered game show host" character that he's been playing since the early 1980s. But if you can't separate the 'Wheel' Sajak from the outspoken conservative and occasional Twitter troll that he becomes when the cameras switch off, then it might seem slightly less good-natured. (There's also a third possibility: that he was having a shit afternoon when they filmed that run of games. Wheel of Fortune films as many as six episodes in a single day. At the end of each show, Sajak walks backstage, maybe tops up his self-tanner, and changes clothes before heading back out to the set to introduce another three contestants.)
Unlike Sajak, late Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek was rarely chided for anything other than his gloriously elaborate pronunciation of the word 'genre,' but he could slice a contestant to ribbons if he chose to. When Susan Cole appeared on the show, she described her fellow nerdcore enthusiasts as "people who identify as nerdy, rapping about the things they love, video games, science fiction, having a hard time meeting romantic partners." Trebek paused for a beat before responding "Losers, in other words."
But Trebek was largely spared the criticism that attaches itself to Sajak, possibly because he was smart enough to swerve social media, and he rarely discussed his politics in public (although a 2014 New Republic profile noted that he watched FOX News in his dressing room). Meanwhile, Sajak seems content to reinforce his reputation as a two-legged salt lick. There's probably a reason why he routinely deletes his old Twitter takes, because if he has a few minutes with his phone, he'll peck out anti-liberal, anti-science one-liners that appeal to people who use the term "face diaper" while they're screaming at the supermarket worker who asked them to wear a mask.
Some of his greatest now-deleted hits include questioning the coronavirus stay-at-home orders last spring, tweeting that "global warming apologists are unpatriotic racists," mocking coming out announcements by "proclaiming [his] heterosexuality," and bringing the big grandpa energy with his observation that "those who oppose charter schools are racists," and that it "felt good" to use that word. (After backlash to the "unpatriotic racists" tweet, he wrote that it was "fun to poke a stick in a hornets' nest just to hear the buzzing.")
Sajak's frequently culled Twitter feed is just a short-form version of the schtick that he's typed for more than a decade. Between 2004 and 2013, he wrote for conservative website Human Events. (The site's current front page features the headlines "Why the Left Can't Meme" and "America Mourns the Loss of Legendary Radio Host and Patriot Rush Limbaugh.") Sajak's politically minded paragraphs covered his continued skepticism about climate change; complaints about the liberal press and "unhinged" Democrats; and how he can't have "serious discussions" with liberals. (If he was upset about his Lefty pals "accusing members of the Right of sowing the seeds of hatred" way back in 2006, then hoooo boy, this January was probably a ride in Pat's house.)
Sajak seems to have realized that he'll face zero professional repercussions for his snide comments on screen and his Huckabee Sanders-level hot takes online. He's also locked down one of the rare entertainment gigs where his conservative opinions may be shared by a large swath of the audience. According to one demographic report, Wheel's viewers are the oldest of any television program, with an average age of "over 65." The average age of the studio audience is also 60-plus, which is why Wheel! (and Jeopardy!, which is equally appealing to the olds) were among the first shows to respond to the coronavirus pandemic by announcing that they would film in empty studios.
So until Sajak decides that he's going to walk off the Wheel set forever, this week's controversy probably won't be the last. (VICE has reached out to Wheel of Fortune for comment.) To put it in bland terms that Pat might eventually tweet, "when somebody shows who they are, believe them." And for the contestants who might be on the other end of his dumb snark, WE'RE S_RRY PAT'S A D_CK.
Would you guys like me to make you the I JTT thread?
https://roanoke.com/people/will-smit...2afcc1fd1.html
Will Smith has revealed he's open to a political career.
The 52-year-old actor - who has joked about stepping into politics in the past - would absolutely "consider" a run for office in the future, although he's not sure whether his role should remain "artistic".
Speaking to Jon Favreau on Crooked Media's 'Pod Save America' podcast, he said: "I think for now I’ll let that office get cleaned up a little bit and then I’ll consider that at some point down the line.
“I don’t know, it’s like, I absolutely have an opinion, I’m optimistic, I’m hopeful, I believe in understanding between people and I believe in the possibility of harmony...
“So, I will certainly do my part, whether it remains artistic or, or, at some point ventures into the political arena.”
Meanwhile, his comments come after fellow Hollywood star Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson admitted he's open to the idea of running for the US Presidency.
Last month, the 48-year-old actor said: "I would consider a presidential run in the future if that's what the people wanted.
"Truly I mean that, and I'm not flippant in any way with my answer. That would be up to the people ... So I would wait, and I would listen."
Dwayne previously suggested he could challenge Donald Trump for the US Presidency in 2020.
And the action star confessed to being wowed by the support he'd received from fans.
He reflected: "I’ve been really been blown away. And it’s so flattering. And I think you have to question why. I think it’s because, you know, a lot of people want to see a different leadership today - I’m sorry, not different, but better leadership today, right?"
The wrestler-turned-actor saw a wave of support come his way after he suggested he'd like to become the US President one day.
Asked what personal qualities made him suitable for the role, the 'Baywatch' star - who is one of Hollywood's most bankable actors - replied: "I think more poised, less noise.
"And I also think that over the years I’ve become a guy that a lot of people kind of relate to: get up early in the morning at a ridiculous hour, go to work and spend time with the troops, take care of my family.
"I love taking care of people. And I think that kind of thing really resonates with people, especially today."
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