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Twitter Is Roasting Joss Whedon After His Ex-Wife Details Years of Infidelity

Following the bombshell essay from Kai Cole, Joss Whedon’s ex-wife, that laid bare Whedon’s affairs and the hypocrisy of his hyped-up feminism, Twitter is having a field day.

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For many fans of Whedon—and people who are not-fans of Whedon—one of the worst parts of Cole’s essay is the allegation that Whedon stayed married to her despite numerous affairs because he wanted to maintain his image as Hollywood’s premiere Woke Male Feminist. So he built up a fanbase around projects that featured strong female characters while at the same time his mentality was more in line with: “When I was running Buffy, I was surrounded by beautiful, needy, aggressive young women. It felt like I had a disease, like something from a Greek myth. Suddenly I am a powerful producer and the world is laid out at my feet and I can’t touch it.” To quote our Marykate Jasper, “Ew.”

And then, apparently, touch it Whedon did—sleeping with actresses under his employ for more than a decade. Infidelity is difficult enough, but it’s the abuse of the power dynamic that upsets me more than anything in this scenario. So I’m finding Twitter’s Whedon roast cathartic.

Why does this feel so sad and true?

Somewhere there is an academic for whom this is probably the case.

Well, actually …

This is Not Breaking News.

And yet …

Excuse me, I need to take a shower.

Oscar the Grouch would never do this, though.

We zoom in on JOSS WHEDON, sitting alone, murmuring sarcastic comebacks to no one.

Yikes.

Also she is is acid-tongued AND impossibly beautiful.

We do.

It’s the abuse of his position of power that should be called out again and again and again.

This is exactly the wrong take, friend. “Hungry and aspiring young actresses” shouldn’t have to sleep with their producer to get ahead. That it “isn’t exactly surprising” is patriarchy in action.

Did you know that you can be a fan of works that Joss Whedon has created AND criticize Whedon’s hypocrisy? This person gets it. Walking and chewing gum at the same time is fun!

Joss Whedon culture.

This is us.

(image: Shutterstock)

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Author
Kaila Hale-Stern
Kaila Hale-Stern (she/her) is a content director, editor, and writer who has been working in digital media for more than fifteen years. She started at TMS in 2016. She loves to write about TV—especially science fiction, fantasy, and mystery shows—and movies, with an emphasis on Marvel. Talk to her about fandom, queer representation, and Captain Kirk. Kaila has written for io9, Gizmodo, New York Magazine, The Awl, Wired, Cosmopolitan, and once published a Harlequin novel you'll never find.

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