Buffy the Vampire Slayer actor Danny Strong has stated that series creator Joss Whedon has no excuse for allegedly mistreating his female stars. These days, Whedon is perhaps more known for his work on The Avengers or finishing up the original cut of Zack Snyder's Justice League, however, his career initially took off with his massively successful TV series Buffy. Buffy stars Sarah Michelle Gellar and tells the tale of a lone teenager who is chosen to defend the world from vampires and other creatures. The series ran from 1997 to 2003 and is still popular to this day.
In 2021, Buffy alum Charisma Carpenter claimed through a series of tweets that Whedon had been both verbally and physically abusive towards many of the female members of the cast and crew of Buffy and its spin-off series, Angel. Carpenter's allegations inspired many other people to come forward from across all of Whedon's projects over the years to support Carpenter, as well as share their own similar stories working with the writer/director. New stories are still surfacing, some as recent as Whedon's work behavior on Justice League.
In a new book by Evan Ross Katz entitled Into Every Generation a Slayer Is Born: How ‘Buffy’ Staked Our Hearts, Strong, who played Jonathan on the series, shared his thoughts on Whedon's actions (as reported by IndieWire). Strong has admitted that his Buffy experience was positive overall, however, he did point out that the people who experienced Whedon's supposed wrath were predominantly attractive women. Strong has gone on to say that it was almost like seeing Whedon in the mental state of a teenage nerd "who's angry that the pretty girls didn't like him." See his full quote below:
“I just want to say if you’re in your mid-thirties, f*** you. That’s not an excuse. You should know better by then. You’re very rich. You’re very successful. Give me a f***ing 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.”
Strong stresses that Whedon is rich and famous now, so saying he was a nerd in high school is no excuse for abusive behavior - not that there's ever any excuse. Many of the allegations against Whedon certainly support Strong's point of view, as many of the other male cast members also remember Buffy as a positive experience, and several of the women that have come forward have told stories that all revolve around Whedon's need for control. Carpenter herself has said that when she informed Whedon on the set of Angel that she was pregnant, she was told that she was ruining the show.
It is truly sad to learn that the creator of one of the 90s' most female-empowered shows may not have had the same respect for women behind the scenes. However, the overwhelming support for the Buffy cast and many others involved in a Whedon project has been encouraging. The support that the Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast has had for each other is truly reminiscent of the support the characters show one another on the series, no matter what its creator was allegedly like.
Source: Evan Ross Katz/IndieWire