‘A young Wesley Snipes’: Marvel’s ‘Blade’ hit with even more controversy as fired writer accuses studio of making racist comments

There’s only one Blade — that’s what Wesley Snipes declared in Deadpool & Wolverine, and it’s looking like that will remain the case as the MCU’s Mahershala Ali-fronted reboot continually struggles to get off the ground. In the latest development to drive a stake through the troubled production, a former writer has blasted Marvel for alleged racist comments.

Writer/producer Beau DeMayo was infamously fired from hit animated series X-Men ’97 earlier this year, with hostilities between himself and the studio becoming so bad that he won’t even receive a credit on the show’s upcoming second season (which he completed work on prior to his firing). In addition to showrunning that series, DeMayo was also one of several scribes to provide a draft of the Blade screenplay. But his time working on the film was apparently not a happy one.

X-Men ’97 EP hits back at Marvel for making him “no longer feel safe as a gay Black man”

According to DeMayo, he was “removed” from Blade after he raised concerns over “prejudicial conditions” on the film, claiming he has the “receipts and eyewitnesses” to back up his claims.

In a 30-minute video posted to his OnlyFans page, the screenwriter alleged that one exec joked to him that he was the perfect person for the job because he looked like “a young Wesley Snipes.” DeMayo clarified: “One of the reasons I wanted to do this video is so that you can see that Wesley Snipes and I look nothing alike.” 

In addition, DeMayo said that “the last straw” for him on the project came when he arrived at the Blade production office one day and was told “someone needed to crack the whip around here.” That idiom has long been a contentious one, as some view it as having its origins in slavery.

Elsewhere in his OnlyFans video, DeMayo hit back at Marvel’s statement that an internal investigation into his behavior found evidence of “egregious” misconduct on his part and that was the reason for his X-Men ’97 firing. The former EP blasted the misconduct claims as “offensive” lies and argued that Marvel is trying to cover up its own “toxic environment” and “near criminal working conditions.” DeMayo maintains that he “no longer felt safe at the studio as a gay Black man.”

“Someone like me dared to speak truth to people like them,” DeMayo continued. “They tried to intimidate me with both explicit and implied threats. I was not intimidated. Everything they have done since then has been designed not just to silence me and smear me, but to crush me and to remind me to know my role.”

Specific details about DeMayo’s rumored misconduct have yet to be officially confirmed, but Deadline reports that he supposedly sent unsolicited “photos” to his X-Men ’97 colleagues and faced accusations of “getting too touchy with people.” DeMayo plans to go to court to overturn what he believes is an “illegal” NDA the studio had him sign when he was terminated.

DeMayo is one of six screenwriters to have worked on Blade since it was announced at Comic-Con in 2019, with two directors also having come and gone — most recently, Yann Demange dropped out this past June. Officially, Blade is still attached to its Nov. 7, 2025 release date, but there seems about as much chance of that happening as DeMayo working for Marvel again.