Advertisement

Here's Why Joss Whedon Really Left Twitter

On Monday, Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon stunned fans when he abruptly deleted his Twitter account with no explanation.

The timing seemed significant, coming right on the heels of Ultron’s blockbuster opening weekend (the second-best debut of all time, after the first Avengers). So what drove Whedon off social media in his moment of triumph? Turns out he just doesn’t like Twitter very much.

- Gunn Slams ‘Angry Fandom’
- Why Whedon Won’t Direct Avengers 3&4
- Evans & Renner Apologise For Black Widow Slur

“I just thought, ‘Wait a minute, if I’m going to start writing again, I have to go to the quiet place. And this is the least quiet place I’ve ever been in my life,’” Whedon, who has stepped down from the Avengers franchise, told Buzzfeed News. “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!”

Whedon adamantly denies the rumor that he left Twitter because of harassment from feminists upset over his characterization of the superhero Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson).

“That is horses—,” declared the writer-director, who says he’s “used to” attacks from his own side of the political spectrum.  “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.”

Whedon, who identifies as a feminist, added that the Twitter harassment he experienced over the Avengers movies was nothing compared to what some women he knows experience online every day.

“For someone like Anita Sarkeesian [creator of the Feminist Frequency web series] to stay on Twitter and fight back the trolls is a huge statement,” he said. “It’s a statement of strength and empowerment and perseverance, and it’s to be lauded. For somebody like me to argue with a bunch of people who wanted Clint and Natasha to get together [in the second Avengers film], not so much. For someone like me even to argue about feminism — it’s not a huge win. Because ultimately I’m just a rich, straight, white guy. You don’t really change people’s minds through a tweet. You change it through your actions.” (Whedon also mentioned that Sarkeesian was one of the first people to reach out to him and ask if he was ok after he deleted his account.)

That said, Whedon did admit that the negativity he received over Twitter – from comic book fans in particular – had started to get to him. “I haven’t dealt with a lot of that, because my fans have always been sweet, erudite, interesting, compassionate people. Like, I don’t know any Buffy trolls,’ said Whedon, referencing his cult TV show Buffy, the Vampire Slayer. “So the steady stream of just like, ‘You suck, you suck, you suck’ [on Twitter] — I don’t really think I need to visit You Suck Land anymore.”

- Surprising Spider-Man Director Shortlist
- Evans: Captain America “Probably A Virgin”
- How Avengers: Age Of Ultron Sets Up Black Panther

Image credit: Disney