February 19, 2021

Actress Says "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" Creator Abused her for being Pregnant

Charisma Carpenter
photo credit: Gage Skidmore / Flickr
Pregnant working women, in addition to all the difficulties and responsibilities that come along with that, often have to deal with discrimination and abuse in the workforce. Employers who want to keep productivity as high as possible or value a woman's physical appearance highly (as they might in the entertainment industry) may go out of their way to encourage working women to have abortions. They sometimes even punish female employees if they choose to carry their children to term. According to actress Charisma Carpenter, that is exactly what happened to her when she worked for Joss Whedon on the set of "Buffy the Vampire Slayer."

“Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” Carpenter wrote in a Feb. 10 statement on Twitter. “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.”

She wrote that Whedon called her into a private meeting after learning she was pregnant:

“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.”

She went on to accuse Whedon of calling her into work at 1:00 AM. This was not long after her doctor told her that she needed to cut back on her working hours, and Carpenter believes Whedon called her purely in retaliation.

Whedon has also been accused of racist conduct by Ray Fisher, who was fired from an acting role as Cyborg in The Flash. Several actors have given statements criticizing Whedon's treatment of others in the fallout of that decision.

Whedon is a supporter of Planned Parenthood and even produced a short film praising the abortion business in 2017.