Buffy the Vampire Slayeralum Anthony Head is speaking out amid abuse allegations against the series' creator,Joss Whedon.
“I have been up most of the night just running through my memories thinking, ‘What did I miss?’ " Head said during his interview.
“This is not a man saying, ‘I didn’t see it so it didn’t happen,’ " he continued. “I am gutted. I’m seriously gutted because one of my memories — my fondest memory — was the fact that it was so empowering. Not just with the words in the script, but the family feel of the show.”
Buffy the Vampire Slayer.Getty Images
“I am really sad that if people went through these experiences,” the actor said.
“I would hope that someone would come to me and say, ‘I’m struggling. I just had a horrible conversation,’ " he shared.
Head added that some of the claims that have surfaced are now “making me think, ‘How on earth did I not know this was going on?’ "
On Wednesday,Charisma Carpenter— who starred as Cordelia Chase onBuffy the Vampire Slayerfrom 1997–1999 andAngelfrom 1999-2004 — shared lengthy statement on social mediaaccusing Whedon of making repeated threats to fire herand efforts to “alienate” her from her peers.
“For nearly two decades, I have held my tongue and made excuses for certain events that traumatize me to this day,” Carpenter, 50, began in her statement. “Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets ofBuffy the Vampire SlayerandAngel. 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,” Carpenter added. “It is with a beating, heavy heard that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively.”
“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,” she alleged.
Amber Benson, who played recurring character Tara Maclay onBuffy,tweetedher support for Carpenter, praising the actress for “speaking her truth.”
“Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top,” wrote Benson, 44. “@AllCharisma is speaking truth and I support her 100%. There was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later.”
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Gellar, 43, alsospoke out in the wake of the allegations, writing in a statement: “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, who played Dawn Summers in the series, went on reposted Gellar’s statement on her Instagramwith the caption: “Thank you @sarahmgellar for saying this. I am brave enough now as a 35 year old woman….To repost this. Because. This must. Be known. As a teenager. With his not appropriate behavior….very. Not. Appropriate.”
“We know what he did,” she added in another Instagram Story post. “Behind. The. Scenes.”
source: people.com
