Beau DeMayo and his legal team have responded to comments and reports of his firing from Disney’s X-Men ’97, calling out the company for “gaslighting” and saying legal action is coming.
Bryan Freedman, who represents DeMayo and has represented other Hollywood clients over wrongful termination cases, called out Disney in a statement to Deadline on Friday. In it, Freedman said that the company is following a similar playbook of trying to “silence the truth” from people.
“Having much experience with Disney, the playbook is always the same. Family friendly on the outside, but secretly attempting to plant illegal unconscionable items in contracts that silence the truth and stop the employee/customer from asserting basic constitutional rights,” Freedman told Deadline.
Freedman went on to say that the pair will explain “through detailed examples” that Disney was in the wrong. Freedman did not address any specific allegations but did take umbrage with Disney’s practices.
“As we will explain through detailed examples which we will roll out in detail one by one, Disney’s model is very clear and a repetitive illegal pattern,” said Freedman. “Once it gets challenged or exposed, the gaslighting and redirection of the blame toward anyone willing to tell the truth starts through an international well oiled publicity machine.”
What happened between Beau DeMayo and Disney?
DeMayo surprisingly exited his role as head writer of X-Men ’97 in March, just a few days before the show’s premiere. At the time, DeMayo was said to have finished writing both Season 1 and Season 2 of the series, and explanations for his departure from the series were scarce.
Things came to a head this week, however, when DeMayo took to social media and alleged that his writing credit for X-Men ’97 had been stripped after he posted X-Men fan art on Instagram for Gay Pride. DeMayo wrote, “I’ll have more to say soon but must take a step back from social media to find a safer space for me to be out, proud, and nerdy. Stay tuned.”
In response, Marvel told The Hollywood Reporter that DeMayo had been terminated following an internal investigation that revealed “egregious” findings. Subsequent reports from Jeff Sneider noted that DeMayo allegedly sent photos of himself to several young male staff members. The photos saw DeMayo in “various states of undress” while “wearing superhero costumes and striking sexually suggestive ‘hero’ poses that could be used as ‘inspiration’ for the show.”