joss whedon, who has garnered quite a fan following thanks to TV shows such as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly” as well as the blockbuster “Avengers,” has become quite unhinged in the wake of Donald Trump’s election as president. The director has previously suggested that he wished that a rhino would perform an unnatural act on House Speaker Paul Ryan and that President Trump wants to kill all gay people. However, his latest tweet, in which he demeaned teenage cancer survivors, has provoked a social media firestorm,
Whedon took a picture of a group of teenage girls, cancer survivors all, being greeted by Speaker Ryan and tweeted, “Tonight on White House Wife Hunt, Donny makes host P.
Ryan give 2 more contestants the ‘Not a 10’ card.”
The tweet runs counter to Whedon’s well-crafted image as someone who celebrated strong women, from the vampire-slaying Buffy Summers to the troubled but lethal River Tam. Words such as “cruel,” “sexist” and “misogynist were used in many of the responses, according to the Washington Times.
Later, only after the controversy threatened to melt Twitter, Whedon added, “So I tweeted something that inadvertently offended everyone except the people I was trying to offend. I'm sorry. I'll be quiet for a bit.”
The reader will note a conspicuous lack of an apology there.
It should be pointed out that Whedon’s next directorial project is likely to be a stand-alone “Batgirl” movie, representing a jump from the Marvel Comics universe of “The Avengers” to the DC Comics universe.
The choice has already stirred a little controversy because of an exchange of dialogue in the last “Avengers” movie concerning a female superhero named Black Widow. The fact that Whedon has demeaned a group of teenage female cancer survivors and ridiculed their physical appearances will almost certainly deepen the outrage. One could even imagine the movie suffering at the box office as a result.
That the election of Trump has made many in the entertainment industry, with certain exceptions, become insane has been noted before. From Meryl Streep’s rant at an awards ceremony to now Whedon tweeting alarming things, one begins to wonder if the mass hysteria in Hollywood has become a Public Health Crisis.
Whedon can do a few things to repair the hit to his reputation that his unhinged Tweets have caused.
First, he needs to tweet an apology. It needs to be heartfelt and without reservation. He needs to admit fault and own what he did.
Then Whedon could go to some place quiet and think about what he’s been doing. With the upcoming writers’ strike, he will have some time for self-reflection.
Finally, he needs to bring back “Firefly.” That is always a given and, in this case, will cause a lot of forgiveness among the fans.
