In Defense of Whedon

I got my ass chewed on social media after news broke that Joss Whedon was a notorious womanizer and was, according to his ex wife, emotionally abusive. I said that we shouldn’t have a knee-jerk reaction to crucify the guy, that the allegations might not be true, that they might just be the venomous spew of a bitter ex. This naturally got me immediately labeled as a misogynist if not an abuser myself, possibly even a rapist. Only because I stressed the need for an “innocent until proven guilty” attitude. I wanted to wait and examine all the evidence before I reached a conclusion. If he’s guilty of being a slimeball, I said, then I will call him a slimeball. But by that point my accusers had already judged me and plugged their ears to anything else I might have to say.

I waited. I examined the evidence. There is nothing conclusive, but there are other witnesses, seemingly credible, who have substantiated the initial allegations that the guy is a first-class heel. Is it possible the guy who created BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER was a womanizer in his “secret” life? Could be, and that’s sad. But does that mean we all should automatically ignore his work, as some have suggested, that we should banish BUFFY to the same nether realms where reside in our estimations guys like Whedon if he IS in fact guilty of being a sleaze? I say no. Remember, Martin Luther King, Jr. was also a womanizer. Yes, it’s true, and no, I’m not equating Whedon and King. I only mention Dr. King to prove a point, and that point is this: a man and his accomplishments are two separate things. Flawed human beings can accomplish great things. In Whedon’s case, there’s the man and then there’s the Art. Don’t throw the Art out with the bathwater. Condemn the bad behavior, yes. Depending on the severity of the offense, you might even condemn the man. But judge the Art, the accomplishments, on their own merit.

By TheCheezman

WAYNE MILLER is the owner and creative director of EVIL CHEEZ PRODUCTIONS, specializing in theatrical performances and haunted attractions. He has written, produced, and directed (and occasionally acted in) over two dozen plays, most of them in the Horror and True Crime genres. He obtained a doctorate in Occult Studies from Miskatonic University and is an active paranormal investigator. Is frequently told he resembles Anton Lavey. And Ming the Merciless. Denn die totden reiten schnell!

5 comments

  1. And at least four US Presidents( FDR, JFK, LBJ and Bill Clinton) were known or widely suspected womanizers. H.P.Lovecraft was a racist and anti-Semite(although ironically enough his first and only wife Sonia Greene was Jewish!). Sometimes the good people do outweighs the evil they commit!!!

  2. And yet, Wayne, and yet…not one piece of this “credible” evidence you cite has surfaced that I have seen. Granted, after the first couple of weeks of doing Internet searches after Kai Cole decided to write the screed she did, I sort of gave up hope; of finding evidence, or any support from Whedon’s friends and/or colleagues. Quite frankly, I find the silence as tragic and sad as I would a pretentious knee-jerk defense of him, as pretentious and damning as what Kai Cole wrote.. Don’t you think, during all the years of his work on television and film, SOMETHING would have leaked out around the edges?

    1. “Credible” is relative, I concede. In this case it amounts to what people have said, people who have no established history of lying. (Doesn’t mean they aren’t lying now, though.) Any time we’re dealing with a case of he said/she said, it’s tricky. I expect his colleagues are hesitant to weigh in on his behalf because they are themselves unsure what to believe. Or maybe they see it all as a personal matter between him and his ex and thus there is no need to defend him publicly?

  3. Post modern feminism is a glee club of mediocre, unskilled hacks tearing down talented men to build themselves up. If these hacks would stop screeching like the clueless harpies they are for even a nano second, they would hear Emma Goldman turning furiously in her grave.

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