It has been over 20 years since Buffy the Vampire Slayer was first released in 1997, and now, Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase in both Buffy and the spin-off series Angel, has spoken out about the abuse of power she suffered at the hands of Joss Whedon, the director and creator. It is understandable that it can take hindsight sometimes to really be able to look back and see the true picture, and it was also spurred on by another actor, Ray Fisher, speaking out with allegations (https://variety.com/2020/film/news/justice-league-investigation-ray-fisher-1234741917/).
Charisma’s tweets can be viewed here, tweet 1 and tweet 2.
A number of her co-stars have spoken out in support of Charisma (https://variety.com/2021/tv/news/sarah-michelle-gellar-joss-whedon-allegations-1234905160/) which is fantastic to see. Charisma alleges that Joss Whedon was abusive when she became pregnant and then fired her from the set of Angel after she had given birth. Joss Whedon has so far refrained from commenting.
I’m a fan of both Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, and have watched both many times over and I will undoubtedly watch them again but they will now be forever tainted. It is very sad that such toxic work environments exist. The actors must have worked very hard and long on both of these shows and the end result is fantastic, but it shows goes to show that you never know what is really going on behind the scenes.
