Another chapter in the Ray Fisher Chronicle begins, this time with “racist conversations” accusations.
Justice League star Ray Fisher has been pretty vocal about his distaste for Joss Whedon and the WB brass. If you have been following the whole deal over the past few months, you know that he did not like what Joss Whedon brought to the set of the film. But he didn’t just blame Whedon. Fisher also went on to say that the producers behind the scenes enabled Whedon’s behavior, and is taking appropriate legal action.
However, as serious as these accusations are, Fisher has been very light on actual details surrounding the entire debacle. In Instagram posts from Fisher, the only explanation we got is that he was keeping things under wraps to protect himself.
In a recent interview with Forbes, Fisher revealed the first real details surrounding this whole mess finally came to light. More specifically, he revealed the straw that broke the camel’s back.
“What set my soul on fire and forced me to speak out about Joss Whedon this summer was my becoming informed that Joss had ordered that the complexion of an actor of color be changed in post-production because he didn’t like the color of their skin tone.”
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But it wasn’t just Whedon who was to blame in this whole thing. Fisher also accused execs at Warner Bros. of having racist conversations.
“Prior to Justice League’s reshoot process, blatantly racist conversations were had and entertained—on multiple occasions—by former and current top level executives at Warner Bros. Pictures,” Fisher told Forbes. “Decision-makers that participated in those racist conversations were Geoff Johns, Jon Berg, and current Warner Bros. Pictures Group chairman Toby Emmerich. I realized that the notes I ended up getting from Johns during reshoots were just a coded version of the racist things he was saying with behind closed doors with the other execs.”
This is pretty huge. There has been a ton of speculation over what Fisher could have been talking about. But in the interview, he lays it on pretty bluntly.
Another big claim from Fisher is that Whedon was instrumental in actors of color such as Ryan Choi and Kiersey Clemons getting reduced in Justice League due to the color of their skin.
“I always suspected that race was a determining factor for the way that things went down, but it wasn’t until this past summer that I was able to prove it,” Fisher concluded.
Now, as interesting as this all is, this is all still hearsay. At the end of the day, it sounds Fisher could be basing a lot of his thoughts on secondhand information. But, if we’re to believe Fisher, he went directly to the studio at first.
“None of what I’m sharing in this interview is news to Warner Bros. HR, nor should it be news to WarnerMedia. I reported almost everything to them back in July—including Emmerich’s involvement,” Fisher said. “The fact that I’m having to advocate for myself in this way is equal parts freeing and frustrating.”
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It is also worth mentioning that these aren’t the on-set issues Fisher mentioned before. Is it still an issue with Whedon and the execs? Yes. But specific comments in the past from Fisher specify abusive “on-set” behavior, not post-production re-coloration or diminishing of roles.
“Race was just one of the issues with the reshoot process,” Fisher said. “There were massive blowups, threats, coercion, taunting, unsafe work conditions, belittling, and gaslighting like you wouldn’t believe.”
For Whedon’s part, his representatives have sent a statement to Forbes about the racial matter.
“The individual who offered this statement acknowledged that this was just something that he had heard from someone else and accepted as truth, when in fact simple research would prove that it was false. As is standard on almost all films, there were numerous people involved with mixing the final product, including the editor, special effects person, composer, etc. with the senior colorist responsible for the final version’s tone, colors, and mood. This process was further complicated on this project by the fact that Zack shot on film, while Joss shot on digital, which required the team, led by the same senior colorist who has worked on previous films for Zack, to reconcile the two.”
So right now, this is a big case of one voice against another. Of course, if true, this is fairly sad and ass-backward behavior. But how do you feel about Ray Fisher accusing WB and Joss Whedon of having racist conversations? let us know your thoughts down below!
SOURCE: Forbes