Anthony Stewart Head is the first male star of the late 90’s/early 2000’s monstrous hit Buffy the Vampire Slayer to make a statement on the allegations of a toxic work environment. Stewart spoke with British television show This Morning, saying he was “gutted” when learning the experiences of his Buffy co-stars.
Charisma Carpenter who played Cordelia Chase broke her silence about the abuse she suffered at the hands of writer, director and series creator, Joss Whedon on Wednesday with a lengthy 2-part tweet, detailing the conditions that she said left her with a “chronic physical condition”.
Anthony Stewart Head (Rupert Giles) gutted by Buffy co-stars’ claims.
Many other female co-stars then came forward in support of Carpenter. Amber Benson (Tara) Clare Kramer (Glory) Michelle Trachtenberg (Dawn) Emma Caulfield (Anya) and Buffy the Vampire Slayer herself, Sarah Michelle Geller all posted in defense of Carpenter’s claims and agreed they, too, suffered from Whedon’s toxicity.
None of the male stars of Buffy or it’s spin off Angel (Carpenter starred on both) had made any statements until Head, who played Rupert Giles: school librarian, Buffy’s watcher and all round bad-ass was asked his opinion on the British breakfast show.
Said Head, “I’ve been up…most of the night just running through my memories, thinking, ‘What did I miss?’ Because this is not a man saying, ‘I didn’t see it, so it didn’t happen.’ I can’t—I am gutted, I’m seriously gutted.
Because one of my fondest memories was that it was so empowering, not just in the words in the script, but just the family feel of the show…I’m really sad if people went through these experiences…I was sort of like a father figure…I would hope that someone would come to me and say, ‘I’m struggling, I just had a horrible conversation.’”
Head continued by saying, “Admittedly, the first post by Charisma was when she was working on Angel, and I was long gone. But there are other posts subsequently that are making me think, ‘How on earth did I not know this was going on?'”
As far as Whedon’s camp, he and ‘his people’ remain silent on the matter but I for one am more interested in hearing accounts from David Boreanaz (Angel), James Marsters (Spike), Nicholas Brendan (Xander) Alexis Denisof (Wesley) and the other male stars of the two Buffyverse shows.
Another star many are interested in hearing her thoughts is Alyson Hannigan (Willow), so far the only female star of Buffy yet to comment.
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