Chuck Wendig Fired From Marvel and Star Wars
Star Wars novelist and comic book writer Chuck Wendig announced that Marvel fired him after they just announced he would be writing the Shadow of Vader series. (Archive links: https://t.co/P8C5IPTe62 and https://t.co/BoFd1AgOLp)
So, here’s a thing that has happened – I just got fired from Marvel. Taken off issues 4 and 5 of SHADOW OF VADER, and taken off an as-yet-unannounced SW book.
This might be a long thread, so apologies in advance.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(I hesitate to talk about this, because honestly, it gives the Worst Possible People a win, something they’ve wanted for a while. But I also feel like I’ve long held to honesty and forthrightness, and I don’t feel like lying when people realize I’m not on these books anymore.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Wendig tries to paint himself as a victim because he included LGBT elements in his novel Star Wars: Aftermath.
To rewind a little bit, when SW: AFTERMATH came out, I assume most know but maybe you don’t, I put some ahh, elements in there (LGBT characters) that were not received well by a certain subset of fandom.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
That resulted in both a negative review campaign, found across various FB groups and other Worst Places on the Internet, that began mounting the very minute the book dropped online.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I was literally at a midnight release of the book, and when I got done, there were already a pile of one-star reviews piling up – which seemed strange, obviously. And scary, too. I didn’t understand what was happening at the time.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(And as a caveat, obviously I recognize that yes, some people just don’t like the book for the Usual Reasons, and people who hold those reasons are not to be lumped in with the more septic side of fandom. Tl;dr see also TLJ reviews.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
He continues trying to paint himself as a victim by stating he received a ton of harassment.
I also started receiving TONS of harassment – harassment that has gone on for years, harassment that has required me to contact local police and warn them of SWATting attempts, harassment across all corners of the Internet, here, FB, Reddit, YouTube.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Some of it was bot stuff, obviously, or sock puppets, but some of it was pretty creepy, and very personal. I didn’t call a lot of it out or even highlight, but it was there, a sort of… constant background noise.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(Christ, for an extra special treat go search for my name and check out the YouTube videos if you want an eye-opening glimpse.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And I was worried of course because, jeez, I thought I had screwed up. I wondered for a time if the book was bad. But then it hit list and stayed on list for four weeks – and the next two books hit list, too, and EMPIRE’S END landed even higher on the list than the first book.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And privately, I was told by folks inside LFL that there was no worry here, that they valued that I spoke out both speaking up for myself and for STAR WARS, which has always honestly been a progressive brand and company.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And it made me very proud to work for them, too, not just because — holy hell, basking in the glow of STAR WARS, but because the people were great, and they totally got it.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(Hell, a lot of the people inside LFL have experience considerable harassment. I mean, that’s not news, but Kelly Marie-Tran? Bueller? Bueller?)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
After I did HYPERION with Marvel, they hired me then to write the TFA adaptation, which meant I got to work with some wonderful folks – @hantos and @cracksh0t – on a project that was tricky, because it ended up being more a translation of the movie than an adaptation.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(I know Heather received some of the worst harassment in the entire industry – I can’t speak to how well Marvel did or did not protect her from it, but I know she was at the bottom of a major misery funnel from Comicsgate and their ilk. Far worse than I suffered.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Still, I thought things were good, and I hoped to do more work with Marvel or SW or a combo of the two someday – comics isn’t really my “thing,” per se, but I felt like I was getting a handle on it.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Of course, the harassment continued – and it got worse again when TLJ came out. Which I’m sure is no surprise to anyone who has ever tweeted, “Hey, I really liked THE LAST JEDI!” That’s really when I started to see lots of YouTube videos and stuff about me and it was…
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Well, it was creepy.
And I’d seen other signs of people being… fired for political reasons, or folks like @ChelseaCain who was yanked around and was also the subject of considerable nastiness.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And then we announced SHADOW OF VADER juuuuust last weekend, and people were excited, and I thought everything was good. I was not made aware of any issues, and my online self has always been my online self, so.
Except, yeah, no.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Wendig finally admits why he was fired. It was because of his “negativity and vulgarity.”
Today I got the call. I’m fired. Because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring. Seriously, that’s what Mark, the editor said. It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Basically, because I was not civil.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Which, of course, is their decision to make. I’m not their boss. (And, turns out, they’re not the boss of me, either. Har har.)
(I joke because otherwise, I cry.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
My understanding over this call was that this was a Marvel decision, not an LFL decision, but I can’t really confirm that. The editor said he had made the call. He seemed genuinely upset at my tweets and profanity, so maybe that's accurate. And again, that's his right to do so.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
If they honestly feel that my presence will damage the book, I don't want that. I want the book to shine, and artists like Juanan Ramirez and Greg Smallwood to do their amazing thing. Artists like that are gods in my mind, so I'm happy to not distract from their literal magic.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
But it does set a troubling precedent. One we’ve seen already – James Gunn, Jessica White, and so on – of folks fired because they riled up the wasp’s nest of asterisk-gate.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And it seems odd to be mad that I’m mad about politics when – well, look around. Climate change, kids in cages, sexual harassers at the topmost tiers of power, and so on. A call for civility as the PA GOP candidate threatens Tom Wolf with a golf cleat stomping. I dunno, man.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I know it hands Comicsgate a big win. It will embolden them. But they won — I’m out of Marvel and, I guess for now, at least, out of any kind of Star Wars. Do your victory lap, I guess. (Just please leave me out of it.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(All that being said, a lot of wonderful people still work inside those institutions and storyworlds, and I hope you’ll continue to support them and the stories they’re telling.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
P.S. Vote in November like your life depends on it. Because it just might.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
While Wendig claims he is a victim of harassment, his own behavior is well documented and it’s not just negativity and vulgarity. He’s actually called for violence against Trump supporters.
Back in June, Wendig decided to attack Star Wars fans decrying them as white supremacists and “toxic.” He also claimed they were sexist and racist.
He would then threaten to sue over a parody T-shirt.
Shortly after his initial attack against Star Wars fans, Wendig would double down. He would state that Star Wars fans come from a “poisoned, septic well-spring.” He would explain that the well spring is “toxic masculinity and abusive white privilege.”
Things would get really bizarre towards the end of June when Wendig decided to claim he doesn’t make products.
Earlier in October he decided to actually call for violence against Trump supporters. He would specifically state that Trump supporters “can eat shit. They can eat a boot covered in shit.” He would then allude to Game of Thrones stating, “Winter is coming, you callous f***necks, you prolapsed assholes, you grotesque monsters, you racists and rapists and wretched abusers, you vengeful petty horrors.”
He would then state, “Some will tell you to be civil because our rage and scorn will fuel the other side, but f*** that double standard in both ears.”
Finally, he would claim he had some bodies he needed to bury.
Wendig can claim that he’s a victim all he wants. It’s simply not true.
One thing appears to be clear. Disney might ignore the behavior of a number of Marvel Comics professionals, but Star Wars is a whole other beast. It appears Disney doesn’t want their multi-billion dollar investment to be harmed by a novelist and comic book writer.
There also appears to be a line that Disney will draw when it comes to who they employ. We’ve recently seen them fire James Gunn for his Tweets about pedophiles and child rape, and now Chuck Wendig has been fired after calling for calling Disney consumers white supremacists, racists, and rapists. Not to mention he called for violence against Trump supporters.
What do you think of Marvel Comics and Disney’s decision to fire Chuck Wendig? Do you agree with their decision?
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