I’ve always thought the term “Male Feminist” was an oxymoron, as well as paternalistic. I am a man who believes in women’s empowerment is about as anemic a statement as, I believe the sky is blue. And why are men required to state this? What it truly says is it’s your “firewall” and excuse to be a total jerk, especially if it involves the opposite sex.

Harvey Weinstein is the poster child of this.

Now enter Joss Whedon.

From Louder with Crowder:

“I’ve accepted the fact that most in the entertainment industry have a different opinion from mine. It’s always been a matter of how big of a douchebag you are about it. Filmmaker Joss Whedon has always been in the top five pound-for-pound biggest celebrity douchelords. Like, to tune of attacking high school girls because they liked a politician he didn’t. There’s a stereotype those of us on the right have of male feminists. For all their public wokeness, you just have a gut feeling they’re scumbags behind the scenes. But it’s okay that they’re scumbags because they say the right things politically. Whedon always looked like he came out of central casting.

“And if these accusations by former “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” star Charisma Carpenter are true, consider that scumminess confirmed. Ray Fisher hinted at who Whedon is on the set of “Justice League.” Now Fisher has some backup.”

Ray Fisher played “Cyborg” in the 2017 movie Justice League. In July of 2020 he tweeted about Whedon’s abusive behavior. But in typical Hollywood fashion, it was glossed over, and Whedon refused to comment. Most of the world had other things on their mind, so the topic fell off the radar.

Joss Wheadon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable.

He was enabled, in many ways, by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg.

Accountability>Entertainment

— Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) July 1, 2020

Enter Carpenter, who hashtagged her tweet: “I Stand With Ray Fisher”.

My truth. #IStandWithRayFisher pic.twitter.com/eNjYcJ6zwP

— charisma carpenter (@AllCharisma) February 10, 2021

pic.twitter.com/Fw0SkHU87c

— charisma carpenter (@AllCharisma) February 10, 2021

Part of Carpenter’s tweet said,

“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.”

For those of us who follow entertainment, this is not “new” news. As we covered in 2017, Whedon’s ex-wife Kai Cole spilled the beans on the height of the hypocrisy, abuse, and misogyny from the much-lauded Buffy showrunner and Avengers director.

Cole wrote:

“Joss admitted that for the next decade and a half, he hid multiple affairs and a number of inappropriate emotional ones that he had with his actresses, co-workers, fans and friends, while he stayed married to me.”

“Despite understanding, on some level, that what he was doing was wrong, he never conceded the hypocrisy of being out in the world preaching feminist ideals, while at the same time, taking away my right to make choices for my life and my body based on the truth. He deceived me for 15 years, so he could have everything he wanted. I believed, everyone believed, that he was one of the good guys, committed to fighting for women’s rights, committed to our marriage, and to the women he worked with. But I now see how 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.”

Entertainment and politics are eerily similar. Rush Limbaugh has often said that politics is simply entertainment for ugly people. They are also the two places where you can be a full-on horrible human being, but as long as you use the right language and contribute to the right causes, your abuse of others will be disregarded and covered up. Protect the image at all cost, keep the false narrative alive.

It was way too late, but Weinstein finally had his day of reckoning. Perhaps this will be Whedon’s.