Deadline has confirmed that WarnerMedia has had an ongoing investigation being conducted on the Justice League production ever since Cyborg star Ray Fisher tweeted back on July 1 about director Joss Whedon’s “gross, abusive” conduct on set. By no means was the investigation recently launched, I understand, despite Fisher’s recent tweets today which we expound on below.
“Joss Whedon’s on-set treatment of the cast and crew of Justice League was gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable. He was enabled, in many ways, by Geoff Johns and Jon Berg. Accountability>Entertainment,” Fisher tweeted back in July. This was alarming news considering Fisher’s thumbs up about Whedon at 2017 Comic-Con. The actor tweeted out that video footage of himself saying “I’d like to take a moment and forcefully retract every bit of this statement.”
A source with knowledge at the studio tells us that no findings have been made yet, and to preserve the integrity of the investigation, the company will not conduct its investigation in the public sphere. There’s no specific timeline to the investigation, other than being thorough and efficient. WarnerMedia has not pre-judged Joss Whedon or Justice League producers Geoff Johns, or Jon Berg, and I hear that the inquiry is not limited to them.
Today, Fisher tweeted, “After 5 weeks of interviews with various cast/crew, @WarnerMedia as officially launched an independent third-party investigation to get to the heart of the toxic and abusive work environment created during Justice League reshoots. This is a MASSIVE step forward!”
He continued, “I believe this investigation will show that Geoff Johns, Joss Whedon, Jon Berg (and others) grossly abused their power during the uncertainty of AT&T’s merger with Time Warner.”
Whedon had stepped in to finish directing Justice League when director Zack Snyder stepped away from production due to a family tragedy back in late 2016. Snyder, responding to fans, is assembling a four-hour-plus cut of the film which will drop on HBO Max next year, and which he’ll talk about this Saturday at the studio’s DC Fandome. F
isher’s comments about Justice League couldn’t come at a worse time for WarnerMedia as they’re just beginning to bang the drum again on this movie (intended in many ways to be their Avengers), which largely fizzled at the box office grossing $682.6M WW off a $300M production cost.