Monthly Archives: March 2021
RDO: Claim Special Collector Bonuses, Double Featured Series Rewards, and More
Sinking City Publisher Denies Selling Pirated Copies on Steam
Scientists Are Creating Smart OLED Tattoos That Can Glow
Ray Fisher Accuses DC’s Geoff Johns of ‘Racially Discriminatory Conversations’
The ongoing conflict between Justice League actor Ray Fisher and WarnerMedia and DC Films continues to grow. In a tweet posted Tuesday morning, Fisher accused former DC Films co-president Geoff Johns and producers Toby Emmerich and Jon Berg of “racially discriminatory conversations” focused on his character of Cyborg in Justice League.
“When it comes to matters involving race, I always try to give the benefit of the doubt to those who may be ignorant of their own biases,” Fisher wrote, saying he received information about the conversations from individuals who witnessed them firsthand. “But when you have studio executives (particularly Geoff Johns) saying ‘we can’t have an angry black man at the center of the movie’ -- and then those executives use their power to reduce and remove ALL black people from that movie -- they are no longer entitled to any benefit associated with doubt.
“[WB head] Toby [Emmerich], Geoff [Johns], and [WB co-president of production] Jon Berg were not ignorant of their biases,” Fisher continued. “They understood full well that the racist rhetoric they chose to entertain in those meetings was offensive, discriminatory, and unacceptable. Furthermore, they dared not speak those things to me, nor any black person associated with the film. Instead, they chose the cowardly route of gaslighting -- complete with extremely problematic requests such as asking me to ‘play Cyborg like Quasimodo;’ and forcing a scene to be reshot so they could highlight the existence of Cyborg’s penis.”
You can read Fisher's entire statement below:Fisher continued his post stating that while Geoff Johns was not credited as a co-writer on Joss Whedon’s reworking of Justice League, he was an “enforcer” of race-based discrimination during conversations with Emmerich and Berg. Fisher also reiterated his position that DC Films president Walter Hamada owes an apology to those individuals who participated in the investigation of workplace toxicity on the set of Justice League.Please Read.
A>E pic.twitter.com/C6PjkBLlDE — Ray Fisher (@ray8fisher) March 2, 2021
Hamada and Fisher were thrust into the spotlight following Fisher’s accusations against director Joss Whedon, who took over for Zack Snyder following his departure from the original project.
[ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/01/07/ray-fishers-cyborg-cameo-reportedly-written-out-of-the-flash-movie"]
WarnerMedia and DC Films dispute Fisher’s allegations, citing a third-party investigation that found no misconduct and no interference from Hamada, whom Fisher has accused of protecting Johns. This lead Fisher to state he would never participate in any project associated with Hamada in the future. WarnerMedia said the investigation resulted in “remedial action,” but failed to specify against whom. And we learned from Zack Snyder that Cyborg's storyline had been reduced when he left the project, something he hopes to remedy with the upcoming Zack Snyder's Justice League. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/22/zack-snyder-wasnt-paid-for-the-snyder-cut-and-hasnt-seen-joss-whedons-justice-league-ign-news"] Whedon has since stepped down from directing HBO’s The Nevers series, citing the COVID-19 pandemic. HBO is owned by WarnerMedia. [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joseph Knoop is a writer/producer for IGN.WandaVision Director Addresses Controversial Line About Grief
Wanda: It's just like this wave washing over me again and again. It knocks me down and when I try to stand up, it just comes for me again. And I can't... It's gonna drown me. Vision: No. No, Wanda. Wanda: How do you know? Vision: Because it can't be all sorrow, can it? I've always been alone so I don't feel the lack. It's all I've ever known. I've never experienced loss because I've never had a loved one to lose. What is grief, if not love persevering?While the line about grief was received earnestly by some who expressed how they could relate to what Vision said, it wasn’t long before those with an opposing view began to heavily criticize the line, and now the line has completed the full Internet Discourse Cycle by becoming the basis for a viral meme. Shakman explained how the line about grief and the scene where it is delivered was so significant to Wanda’s life. “[Episode 8] was so important because it pulls back the curtain on what the whole story has been all season, and hopefully folks can go back and look at episodes one, two, and three in a new light now. This is a story about love, it’s about loss, it’s about grief, it’s about how we move on from loss, something I think we all know too much about in general, but especially this year of the pandemic,” Shakman told IGN in an interview. “And so everything that we’ve done so far, even silly live-audience sitcoms in the ‘50s, is fueled by Wanda’s loss and about how she’s trying to find solace from that loss. So that’s what the Avengers HQ scene is really about. “And it’s also about [Wanda and Vision’s] connection. We’ve seen them together, they’ve been quite charming together making paprikash, we’ve seen the highs and the lows, but this is the moment where they really come together. This is the moment where [Vision] provides the solace that she needs, a way forward, and that line [about grief] is quite beautiful. But it’s also made especially beautiful by the line before it, as well, when Wanda articulates what loss is like to her and he is able to give her a way forward. He is able to show her that love is the way through that. He is quite a wise person, Vision. Even though he’s not human, he seems to be more human than any of us. He has some of the best lines in the MCU, I think that one [about grief] written by [WandaVision writer] Laura Donney is gorgeous.” Stay tuned to IGN for the full interview with director Matt Shakman. For more on WandaVision, check out how that little Monica Rambeau moment is a big setup for Captain Marvel 2. [ignvideo url="https://www.ign.com/videos/2021/02/24/how-wandavision-sets-up-captain-marvel-2"] [poilib element="accentDivider"] Joshua is a Senior Editor and Producer of Features at IGN. If Pokemon, Green Lantern, or Star Wars are frequently used words in your vocabulary, you’ll want to follow him on Twitter @JoshuaYehl and IGN.