Justice League actor Ray Fisher responded to Forbes removing his quotes accusing Joss Whedon of altering an actor’s skin tone.
In an interview with Forbes, Fisher previously accused the director of changing an actor of color’s skin tone in post-production.
Fisher stated, “What set my soul on fire and forced me to speak out about Joss Whedon this summer was my becoming informed that Joss had ordered that the complexion of an actor of color be changed in post-production because he didn’t like the color of their skin tone.”
He added, “Man, with everything 2020’s been, that was the tipping point for me.”
Forbes would update the article removing this entire quote from it. They would post an update to the article writing, “This story has been updated from its original version, including the wording of the original headline. Comments have been added from Warner Bros. and representatives for Joss Whedon.”
Page Six would report that the interview was changed in order to “add balance and fairness” to the story.
Forbes’ Chief Communications Officer Matthew Hutchison told Page Six, “The contributor’s story captured a discussion that has been in the public sphere for some time. The post was updated to add comments from Warner Bros. and Joss Whedon and a quote was removed to add balance and fairness.”
The statement from Whedon is actually from one of his representatives and it’s unclear if it’s a direct quote or if Forbes is paraphrasing it.
Nevertheless, here is what is printed in Forbes’ article coming from Whedon’s representative, “The individual who offered this statement acknowledged that this was just something that he had heard from someone else and accepted as truth, when in fact simple research would prove that it was false.”
Forbes continued, “As is standard on almost all films, there were numerous people involved with mixing the final product, including the editor, special effects person, composer, etc. with the senior colorist responsible for the final version’s tone, colors, and mood.”
“This process was further complicated on this project by the fact that Zack shot on film, while Joss shot on digital, which required the team, led by the same senior colorist who has worked on previous films for Zack, to reconcile the two,” they concluded.
Fisher would respond to the removal of his quotes and the addition of the statement from Whedon’s representative on Twitter.
Fisher wrote, “My team and I have been in contact with Forbes regarding the unorthodox changes that were made to their Oct 29th article written by Sheraz Farooqi.”
“Even more concerning is that Sheraz is now listed as a ‘former’ contributor. I will personally be getting to the bottom of this.”
What do you make of Fisher’s response? What do you make of Forbes’ update to the article?