Beau DeMayo and his legal team have addressed recent comments and reports regarding his dismissal from Disney’s X-Men ’97, accusing the company of “gaslighting” and hinting at impending legal action.
Bryan Freedman, DeMayo’s attorney, issued a statement to Deadline on Friday, criticizing Disney for its approach to handling the situation. Freedman suggested that Disney is employing a familiar strategy to suppress the truth and prevent employees or customers from asserting their rights.
Freedman stated, “Based on my extensive experience with Disney, their approach is consistently the same: projecting a family-friendly image while secretly embedding problematic clauses in contracts designed to silence the truth and undermine fundamental constitutional rights.”
Freedman went on to say that the pair will explain “through detailed examples” that Disney was in the wrong. Freedman did not address any specific allegations but did take umbrage with Disney’s practices.
“As we will explain through detailed examples which we will roll out in detail one by one, Disney’s model is very clear and a repetitive illegal pattern,” said Freedman. “Once it gets challenged or exposed, the gaslighting and redirection of the blame toward anyone willing to tell the truth starts through an international well oiled publicity machine.”
What happened between Beau DeMayo and Disney?
DeMayo surprisingly exited his role as head writer of X-Men ’97 in March, just a few days before the show’s premiere. At the time, DeMayo was said to have finished writing both Season 1 and Season 2 of the series, and explanations for his departure from the series were scarce.
Things came to a head this week, however, when DeMayo took to social media and alleged that his writing credit for X-Men ’97 had been stripped after he posted X-Men fan art on Instagram for Gay Pride. DeMayo wrote, “I’ll have more to say soon but must take a step back from social media to find a safer space for me to be out, proud, and nerdy. Stay tuned.”
In response, Marvel told The Hollywood Reporter that DeMayo had been terminated following an internal investigation that revealed “egregious” findings. Subsequent reports from Jeff Sneider noted that DeMayo allegedly sent photos of himself to several young male staff members. The photos saw DeMayo in “various states of undress” while “wearing superhero costumes and striking sexually suggestive ‘hero’ poses that could be used as ‘inspiration’ for the show.”
