Despite the fact that joss whedon has withdrawn from Twitter after the firestorm over his snarky tweet about teenage girl cancer survivors, the furor over the remark continues unabated. The latest to weigh in was actor James Woods, who suggested that Whedon's ill-considered Tweet might have career consequences.
“How much fun are folks at @wbpictures and @DCComics having today explaining why #Batgirl director thinks girl cancer survivors are a joke?”
Woods raises an interesting question. To be sure hatred of President Donald Trump runs wide and deep inside Hollywood.
But most in the entertainment industry must be aware that Whedon crossed a red line when he dragged young teenage girl cancer survivors into the mix. Could we see the famous director of the ”Avengers” movies quietly dropped as the helmer of the upcoming “Batgirl” film?
Hollywood has had an unfortunate relationship with the social justice movement, sometimes to the detriment of its bottom line. The classic example was the recent all-female “Ghostbusters” movie in which the filmmakers cried sexism when the fans reacted badly to the first trailer of the film. The rebooted “Ghostbusters” went on to tank at the box office.
Whedon is an undoubted great director and story teller. His “Avengers” films made billions and his TV shows, particularly “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly” are cult classics.
Fans have tended to ignore Whedon’s leftist politics while enjoying his body of work. Indeed “Firefly” is a favorite of conservative and libertarian audiences due to its theme of the little guy struggling against the overwhelming power of the State.
On the other hand, social media has a tendency to expand controversies and make them into self-feeding monsters.
If Whedon is confirmed as the director of “Batgirl”, do the calls for a boycott begin in earnest? The suits at Warner Brothers and DC Comics have some soul searching to do. They could try to ride things out. Or they could cut their losses and go with another director who is not prone to saying alarming things on Twitter.
Whedon could defuse the situation by doing what he has yet to do as of this writing, which is to make a heartfelt and unconditional apology.
A cash donation to a cancer charity would help to sweeten the deal. A promise to bring back “Firefly” would be even better.
It is clear that the controversy is not going away anytime soon. If anyone is off limits to politically inspired snark, it is teenage girl cancer patients. Whedon has to acknowledge this, own it, and promise to go forth and sin no more if he is to avoid further consequences as a result.