Kate Hackett
Although David Boreanaz has been largely quiet about his time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel, after co-star Charisma Carpenter spoke up about abuse on both sets at the hands of Joss Whedon, Boreanaz finally broke his silence.
Boreanaz offered Carpenter his support publicly via a social media reply to her posts.
Carpenter’s response to him indicates that he has been privately supportive as well.
Boreanaz was replying to a statement Carpenter made last week.
“For nearly two decades, I have held my tongue and even made excuses for certain events that traumatized me to this day,” she wrote. “Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel.
While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively.”
Carpenter’s character Cordelia was killed during a childbirth scene on the show Angel.
It was a largely controversial death at the time. Carpenter blamed Whedon’s response to her real-life pregnancy for her firing.
“Joss intentionally refused multiple calls from my agents making it impossible to connect with him to tell him the news that I was pregnant. Finally, once Joss was apprised of the situation, he requested meeting with me. In that closed-door meeting, he asked me if I was ‘going to keep it’ and manipulatively weaponized my womanhood and faith against me. He proceeded to attack my character, mock my religious beliefs, accuse me of sabotaging the show, and then unceremoniously fired me the following season once I gave birth.”
Carpenter said she supported Justice League actor Ray Fisher, who has also spoken out against Whedon, citing “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” behavior.
Other Buffy actors have spoke up in support of Carpenter. Amber Benson, who played Tara, said the show’s environment was “toxic” and that it “start[ed] at the top”.
Sarah Michelle Gellar, who played the titular character of Buffy, issued a statement on social media.
“While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon. I am more focused on raising my family and surviving a pandemic currently, so I will not be making any further statements at this time. But I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out.”
Michelle Trachtenberg reposted Gellar’s statement and 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.”
Lead image: Gage Skidmore/Flickr.
