Buffy star Michelle Trachtenberg speaks out against Joss Whedon

Buffy the Vampire Slayer creator and Avengers director Joss Whedon has been taking public heat for a long while now, particularly since Ray Fisher — who played Cyborg in Justice League, which Whedon took over directing after Zack Snyder left due to a family emergency — accused him of “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior on set.

That was followed by an internal investigation in which Buffy and Angel star Charisma Carpenter (Cordelia Chase) participated. Carpenter revealed that information in a lengthy post earlier this week, where she detailed how Whedon had created “hostile and toxic work environments” on his sets, citing “passive-aggressive threats to fire me,” “pitting people against one another to compete and vie for his attention and approval,” retaliating against her after she got pregnant, and more.

Soon, other cast members came forward, including Amber Benson (Tara), who called the Buffy set a “toxic environment,” and Sarah Michelle Gellar, who wrote that “While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to forever be associated with the name Joss Whedon.”

Michelle Trachtenberg joins her costars in speaking out against Joss Whedon

Michelle Trachtenberg, who played Buffy’s little sister Dawn, posted Gellar’s message on her Instagram, together with some accusations of her own:

"This must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior….very. Not. Appropriate. So now. People know. What Joss. Did. 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."

I don’t know what the punctuation is about there but the implications of a rule that Whedon wasn’t allowed to be in a room alone with Trachtenberg, who joined the show at the age of 15, are disturbing.

It brings to mind a scandal that Whedon mostly weathered back in 2017, when his ex-wife Kai Role wrote an article in TheWrap detailing Whedon’s numerous infidelities and saying that he “used his relationship with me as a shield, both during and after our marriage, so no one would question his relationships with other women or scrutinize his writing as anything other than feminist.”

According to Kole, after their marriage was over, Whedon explained his behavior like this:

"“When I was running ‘Buffy,’ I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women. It felt like I had a disease, like something from a Greek myth. Suddenly I am a powerful producer and the world is laid out at my feet and I can’t touch it.” But he did touch it. He said he understood, “I would have to lie — or conceal some part of the truth — for the rest of my life,” but he did it anyway, hoping that first affair, “would be ENOUGH, that THEN we could move on and outlast it.”"

All of this paints a pretty damning picture of Whedon, who left his new HBO show The Nevers in November, citing exhaustion. He has yet to weigh in on any of this. I doubt he’ll be employable from now on.

As a fan of Whedon’s work in general and Buffy in particular, it hurts to see all this, but obviously it’s commendable for these people to come forward and share their experiences, which will hopefully do their part to create less toxic working environments in the future.

To stay up to date on everything fantasy, science fiction, and WiC, follow our all-encompassing Facebook page and sign up for our exclusive newsletter.

Get HBO, Starz, Showtime and MORE for FREE with a no-risk, 7-day free trial of Amazon Channels