Anika Begay
After having fired The X-Men ‘97Former showrunner Beau DeMayo, shortly before the show’s first season premiere, sounded like the studio was ready to move forward with a new creative team. But after DeMayo’s recent claims that Marvel unfairly pulled his credits from The X-Men ‘97For the upcoming second season, the company says he was fired due to the “horrific” findings of an internal investigation.
Although DeMayo had been fired before The X-Men ‘97 on the air, his name would still have been included in the show’s upcoming second season due to the pre-production work he contributed to the project. But in a thread posted to his X account on Thursday, DeMayo accused Marvel of stripping him of the second season credits because of his posting of fan art of himself. DeMayo, who is openly gay, hinted that Marvel’s decision was driven specifically by the fan art, which depicts him as X-Men’s Cyclops without his trademark blue spandex and was posted during Pride Month on June 4. DeMayo also said his firing was “the latest in a troubling series I’ve suffered” while working for Marvel on The X-Men ‘97 and the besieged Lama movie.
But in a concise statement to The Hollywood ReporterMarvel said DeMayo’s firing followed an investigation that found he had engaged in “egregious” behavior toward other employees. According to anonymous sources cited by DAY“sexual misconduct” was one of the reasons DeMayo was fired from the first season, and Expiration reports that the removal of his credits is a consequence of violating a separation agreement with Marvel.
Following Marvel’s claim that it had ample grounds to fire DeMayo, DeMayo’s attorney, Bryan Freedman, issued a statement defending his client, arguing that Disney is “secretly attempting to insert illegal and unacceptable elements into contracts that silence the truth.”
The statement continues: “As we will explain through detailed examples that we will detail one by one, the Disney model is a very clear and repetitive illegal pattern. Once challenged or exposed, the gaslighting and redirection of blame towards anyone willing to speak the truth begins through a well-oiled international publicity machine.”
