Joss Whedon Blasts ‘Justice League’ Actor Ray Fisher’s ‘Abusive’ Behavior Accusations

Joss Whedon has spoken out about Justice League star Ray Fisher’s accusations that the director exhibited “abusive” behavior on-set of the comic book movie and blasted the Cyborg actor’s claims. In a profile by Vulture, Whedon addressed the allegations against him by returning fire, saying he’d never worked with “a ruder group of people” before the Justice League cast. He then went on to acknowledge Fisher’s discrimination claims, refuting that race played a part in the actor’s character, Victor Stone/Cyborg, having his story arc cut down.

In response, Whedon stated that Cyborg’s scenes were decreased for two reasons: the plot “logically made no sense” and Fisher, according to Whedon, was “a bad actor.” Whedon was also asked if he had any comment on why he thinks Fisher would have made the allegations against him, to which he replied, “We’re talking about a malevolent force. We’re talking about a bad actor in both senses.” Fisher later responded to Whedon’s comments in Twitter post, writing, “Looks like Joss Whedon got to direct an endgame after all…”

Whedon also addressed claims by Wonder Woman actress Gal Gadot that he threatened her career while filming Justice League. “I don’t threaten people,” he stated. “Who does that?” The director then added, “English is not her first language, and I tend to be annoyingly flowery in my speech.” This seems to be a reference to Gadot’s Israeli heritage, and Hebrew being her native language.

In speaking about the incident, Whedon “recalled arguing over a scene [Gadot] wanted to cut,” saying that he “told her jokingly that if she wanted to get rid of it, she would have to tie him to a railroad track and do it over his dead body.” He added, “I was told that I had said something about her dead body and tying her to the railroad track.” Gadot responded to Whedon’s new comments by telling journalists that she “understood perfectly” what he said to her.

Notably, Whedon has also faced allegations of misconduct from the cast of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, a hit teen horror-drama he created in the ’90s. Last year, actress Charisma Carpenter issued a lengthy statement, claiming Whedon – the show’s creator – had been abusive toward her mentally, emotionally, and verbally. “Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” she wrote in part. “While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers.” Whedon has refuted these claims as well.