AVENGERS: AOU Director Joss Whedon Reveals The Real Reason He Quit Twitter
On Monday Joss Whedon deleted his Twitter account amid speculation that some of the backlash he received from militant feminists over his handling of the Black Widow character in Avengers: Age Of Ultron got a bit much for him to deal with. What really happened? Click on to find out...
Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Joss Whedon has long been considered something of a feminist icon, and has written many strong female characters over the years... but that didn't stop the backlash when some more militant (and by that I mean psychotic) members of his fanbase took issue with the perceived "damselling" of Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson) in Avengers: Age Of Ultron.
When the director deleted his Twitter account on Monday, many assumed it must have been because of the extreme (and we're talking death threats here) level of abuse that was being aimed at him, but it seems that wasn't the case at all. Here's what Whedon had to say to Buzzfeed on the matter.
“That is horseshit. Believe me, I have been attacked by militant feminists since I got on Twitter. That’s something I’m used to. Every breed of feminism is attacking every other breed, and every sub-section of liberalism is always busy attacking another sub-section of liberalism, because god forbid they should all band together and actually fight for the cause. I saw a lot of people say, ‘Well, the social justice warriors destroyed one of their own!’ It’s like, Nope. That didn’t happen."
Okay... so why did he quit? Well, turns out he just wanted some peace and quiet to get back to writing and he was finding Twitter too addictive. "I just thought, 'wait a minute, if I’m going to start writing again, I have to go to the quiet place!", Whedon explained. "And this is the least quiet place I’ve ever been in my life. It’s like taking the bar exam at Coachella. It’s like, Um, I really need to concentrate on this! Guys! Can you all just… I have to… It’s super important for my law!”
Though that may be true, a constant barrage of Tweets from angry halfwits almost certainly made his decision that bit easier. Whedon doesn't rule out a return to the social media platform though, adding that he found it "a lot of fun." Much more on this at the link below.