Attempts to hype up a Joss Whedon project massively backfires as viewers refuse to forget his sordid past

Former science fiction empresario Joss Whedon is finding out the hard way that people don’t just forget past transgressions, no matter how much time has passed.

SYFY Wire, a site that promotes official SYFY programming, released an article today about Speed. No, not the drug, but the 1994 classic starring Keanu Reeves, Sandra Bullock, and a bus that would explode if it went under 50 miles an hour. However, for some reason, they highlighted Whedon’s involvement and people are not happy about it.

Apparently Whedon was brought in to “bring a tweak to Speed’s characters and substantially rework their dialogue.” Which, fine. No one’s complaint about Whedon is that he’s not good at his job. The issue is allegations of inappropriate and abusive behavior toward subordinates and his propensity for being creepy.

The article wants to make sure how involved Whedon was in Speed, for some reason. It’s pretty flattering to him as well.

“Whedon’s uncredited writing contributions did the trick, too, helping elevate de Bont’s directing debut into a $350 million box office smash that earned back roughly ten times its reported production budget,” the article said.

Then came the comments. “Hey @peacock can you talk to your media partners about not endorsing a known predator in order to promote your streaming service?” one person said.

Here are some other examples:

Mentioning Whedon has the opposite effect you think it does, someone else said.

Someone trotted out the Hilton memes.

This would be a complete rebrand.

Others pointed out his alleged hypocrisy.

Some people took a more simple approach, using emojis to express displeasure.

People don’t seem to want Whedon back, regardless of his recent attempts to rehabilitate his image.

SYFY is getting dragged in the process collateral damage style.

Someone else shared actress Charisma Carpenter’s personal account of working with Whedon, where he allegedly called her “fat” when she was pregnant and asked her if she was “going to keep it.”

Honestly, none of the comments are positive. That should tell SYFY all it needs to know. Also, Speed is now streaming on Peacock. It’s a good movie, even if Whedon’s stain will forever be on it.