Joss Whedon Explains Why He Left Twitter (It Wasn’t a Feminist Backlash)

Despite the massive amount of conspiracy theories and commentary offered about his decision to close his Twitter account, Avengers: Age of Ultron writer/director Joss Whedon has denied that he was chased off the social media site by complaints about his treatment of female characters.

Talking to BuzzFeed, Whedon said, “I saw a lot of people say, ‘Well, the social justice warriors destroyed one of their own!’ It’s like, Nope. That didn’t happen.” (“Believe me, I have been attacked by militant feminists since I got on Twitter,” he said at one point in the interview. “That’s something I’m used to.”) Instead, the reason for his withdrawal from the site is far more mundane.

“I just thought, Wait a minute, if I’m going to start writing again, I have to go to the quiet place,” he explained to the website. “And this is the least quiet place I’ve ever been in my life. … It’s like taking the bar exam at Coachella. It’s like, ‘Um, I really need to concentrate on this! Guys! Can you all just… I have to… It’s super important for my law!'”

Whedon did suggest that the vehement passion of comic book fans could take its toll, however; remembering that comic book writer Brian Michael Bendis had warned him that writing the Astonishing X-Men comic book series would introduce him to “a new kind of person, he said, “I haven’t dealt with a lot of that, because my fans have always been sweet, erudite, interesting, compassionate people. Like, I don’t know any Buffy trolls. So the steady stream of just like, ‘You suck, you suck, you suck’ [on Twitter] — I don’t really think I need to visit You Suck Land anymore.”

However, he told BuzzFeed, “the real issue is me.” Describing Twitter as “an addictive little thing” that he felt the compulsion to check, he said that he “just had a little moment of clarity where I’m like, ‘You know what? If I want to get stuff done, I need to not constantly hit this thing for a news item or a joke or some praise, and then be suddenly sad when there’s hate and then hate and then hate.’ “

Bad news for conspiracy theorists, perhaps, but good news for those hoping to see more of Whedon’s work in the future. Fans might see less of Whedon’s everyday riffs now that he’s off Twitter, but hopefully Whedon will indeed direct that energy into new projects.

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