Buffy’s Michelle Trachtenberg Backs Up Abuse Allegations Against Joss Whedon
Michelle Trachtenberg is joining with other Buffy the Vampire Slayer castmates in calling out Joss Whedon for his inappropriate behavior
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Michelle Trachtenberg has joined in a Buffy the Vampire Slayer reunion of sorts. But this is the worst kind of grouping and around some terrible circumstances. The actress has come out in solidarity with some of her former castmates around the accusations concerning Joss Whedon’s on-set behavior and treatment of the staff. Trachtenberg had this to say in an Instagram post:
What’s telling about the response from Michelle Trachtenberg is also the comments she offered around the accusation. She doesn’t offer specifics, but she does allude to inappropriate behavior from Whedon and makes specific reference to being a teenager at the time. There is room for interpretation of course, but she does say how it took her many years to even have the ability to think about speaking out against Whedon. She finally has, in some ways, started to open up and it calls into question what exactly was happening on this show all those years ago.
Michelle Trachtenberg played Dawn Summers for the final two seasons of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. It was an odd-ish move at the time adding her character to the mix as Buffy’s younger sister because she’d been noticeably absent for the first four seasons. But when she was brought on Season Five it was under the assumption that she’d been there all along. This was ultimately explained, but it was a curveball to start. She was fifteen years old when she joined the cast.
Unfortunately, Michelle Trachtenberg coming back into the public eye is under rather negative circumstances. The past few days have seen a number of Buffy the Vampire Slayer cast members speak out publicly around how Joss Whedon treated people on the set. Following Ray Fisher calling out Whedon for abusive behavior on the set of Justice League, Charisma Carpenter who played Buffy’s Cordelia Chase gave a detailed description of her encounters with Whedon during their time on the show. The allegations are troubling and involve Whedon making a number of derogatory remarks around the actress’s body and possibly even taking part in retaliatory behavior.
This led to other cast members like Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amber Benson posting on social media lending their support of Chase. Their responses implied that they were either at the brunt of Whedon’s abusiveness or at least witnessed it. Both said they stand with Chase without offering more specific details around the situation. This could have a legal element to it either a pending investigation or wanting to remove any chance of libel allegations moving forward. It’s a messy set of circumstances, but clearly paint Whedon in a more-than-negative light. Michelle Trachtenberg seems to imply she was dealt a certain level of inappropriate behavior during her time on the show.
As for Michelle Trachtenberg, she’s been mostly out of the acting game in the last few years. Her last credited performance was in the animated comedy Human Kind Of and before that she lent her voice talents to multiple seasons of Robot Chicken. As of now, there are no upcoming roles for the actress. We’ll have to see if more details emerge around her time on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
