From a buzzy night match at Rod Laver Arena to playing in an empty stadium, Elina Svitolina has described a fan-free Australian Open as “disturbing and sad”.

The world No.5 was among the first players in round-three action at Melbourne Park on Saturday since Victoria was plunged into a snap five-day lockdown.

The midpoint of the year’s first major, the first Saturday is usually the most popular with crowds and their five-day absence is a massive blow for organisers already taking a huge hit with reduced capacity.

The Ukrainian swept aside Yulia Putintseva of Kazahstan 6-4 6-0 with the Open venue eerily quiet, with only officials and the players’ support staff permitted.

Svitolina, who has reached the quarter-finals twice at the Open and is a two-time major semi-finalist, said it was tough to adjust.

“It was very different conditions – I played a night match at 7pm with a good crowd and now it was completely different,” Svitolina said.

It was for sure a bit disturbing, I would say, in some ways sad but it is what it is.”

The 26-year-old says it felt like a practice match, and she had to force herself to switch on.

“I tried to convince myself that it’s a grand slam and that we are playing an important match and I have to focus.”

Svitolina said it was tougher for the losing player, without the crowds there to urge them on.

“When you are down, I think you feel like you’re almost alone here,” said the former world No.3.

“People give you energy, they are supporting you, they are trying to get you back into the match.”

The first match to be completed under the new conditions was the Friday night clash between world No.1 Novak Djokovic and American Taylor Fritz.

The match was bizarrely halted at 11.30pm while the crowd was cleared so fans could get home by the midnight lockdown deadline.

On court Saturday, Karolina Muchova ousted sixth seed Karolina Pliskova from the Australian Open with a spirited fightback at Melbourne Park.

Muchova battled back from 5-0 down in the second set to send the former world No.1 crashing out with a 7-5 7-5 third-round victory on Saturday.

The opening set was tight but Pliskova looked to have found her groove before dramatically collapsing.

Karolina Muchova (L) is congratulated by Karolina Pliskova.

“I’m a little sad because we are very good friends,” Muchova, the world No.27 said.

“But it’s a game and I’m definitely happy that I made it through in two sets.

“We were both a little nervous, but I’m happy I’m through.”

Muchova will meet either Swiss 11th seed Belinda Bencic or Belgian Elise Mertens on Monday for a place in the last eight.

Elina Svitolina earlier continued her quiet progression through the draw to advance to the fourth round without dropping a set.

The Ukrainian fifth seed had too many guns for Yulia Putintseva, winning 6-4 6-0 in one hour, 23 minutes after trailing 2-0 early.

From trailing 4-3 in the opening set, she reeled off nine consecutive games to win easily.

Putintseva was among the 72 players forced into hard quarantine before the Open last month.

The 26-year-old was bizarrely accused of feeding rodents in her hotel after repeatedly taking to social media to complain of a mice plague in her hotel.

It’s been quite the experience for her in Australia over the past month, but she’ll at least depart with a cheque for $215,000 for coming to the season’s first grand slam.

“I know Yulia for a very long time. We used to play when we were kids – under 10s, under 12s – so I know her from a very young age,” Svitolina said.

“So I always expect a big battle against her. She’s a big fighter so I had to really play my best and, in the end, it was a good match for me.

“I’m happy with the way I could come back in the first set.”

Svitolina will play Jessica Pegula next after the unseeded American crushed Frenchwoman Kristina Mladenovic 6-2 6-1.

-AAP

The post Australian Open players miss the buzz of the crowd appeared first on The New Daily .

The Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has praised Victorians’ response to the snap five-day lockdown, rejecting suggestions it could last for weeks, but saying there were no guarantees.

Mr Andrews said recent testing had identified only one new case and he urged people to avoid speculation or protests against the move.

“I think people should try, as best they can, to encourage people to [get information] based in facts,” the Premier said.  “The facts are this is a precautionary approach, one that is based on the best help advice.”

Victoria entered a third lockdown at 11.59pm on Friday after the UK variant of the virus escaped quarantine at Melbourne Airport’s Holiday Inn.

The outbreak now tallies at least 13 cases, including a woman who may have worked at an airport cafe while infectious.

There are 996 known primary close contacts associated with the known cases with test results expected to come through by Monday.

The single additional positive case recorded on Saturday – a man in his 30s – is in isolation, as well as 38 of his primary close contacts.

Of 12 co-workers of an infected worker at Brunetti’s cafe at Melbourne airport, 11 have returned negative test results, which the premier said was encouraging. The one remaining test result is yet to come through.

Mr Andrews defended the need for a third lockdown, saying he knew a lot of people would be hurting but that it was the right thing to do.

“Victorians know what to do to beat this virus and I am confident we will do that again,” Mr Andrews said.

And I just say to anybody who thinks that the law does not apply to them and that they can be off protesting or doing whatever else, all that potentially does is spread the virus and a protest is not the same as a vaccine.

“It just does not work so let’s not put police in a difficult position. That’s all of us try our very best to follow these series of rules for a short period of time so that hopefully we can keep getting those negative tests coming through and put this behind us.”

“We can’t pretend it is over just because we want it to be. As desperately keen as we all are for it all to be over, I can’t deny the evidence. I can’t go shopping for the advice that I like. I can’t ignore advice. You know, you’ve got to make the tough calls and that is just the job I have got.

“This is not a popularity contest, it is a pandemic … Last thing any Victorian wants, and regardless of their views on me, is a premier that is shopping around for advice that suits their political purposes. That is not what we are in, we are in a pandemic.

Victorian testing commander Jeroen Weimar said there had been more than 20,000 tests on Friday, with 8500 negative results and the rest being processed. He urged people to get tested, saying wait times were only about one hour at most centres.

The one positive case was a contact of a Quarantine Victoria worker.

“Late yesterday, we returned and found a positive result of a man in his 30s and the Point Cook area,” Mr Weimar said. “He is a social contact of one of our CQV Staff members, and we are continuing to investigate the full extent of those contact on that worker continues.”

Tweet from @VicGovDH

“Yesterday we discussed a number of lines of inquiry we were actively following up, the most important and concerning was the cafe at the airport, Brunetti’s [at Melbourne airport].

“All 12 staff have been tested and 11 are negative. We have one more test result we are waiting on. That will come through later today. An encouraging start.

“We also have 38 customers of Brunetti’s cafe contacted, we got the details from them yesterday, all followed up last night and this morning.

Mr Andrews said test and trace workers were getting through their required work.

“We are testing people and getting many pleasing test results. Part of that abundance of caution is the assumption, there are cases out there that we don’t know about, and they were not necessarily caught up in the net.

“We said we didn’t know about it. It’s out there in the community more broadly. We have to assume that has happened. It’s not just an assumption, but we know this is moving really, really fast. However, all my advice, this strategy is the right thing to do. I urge Victorians to stick together.”

“We will be here briefing you every day. There is no cause for anyone to be speculating about that. The advice remains the same to me. This is an important thing for us to do. It’s exactly what we need to do, a 5-day
circuit breaker.”

On Friday night the government announced a pause on all international passenger flights, excluding those already in transit, while there was also bizarre scenes at the Australian Open where tennis crowds were forced to leave midway through matches when the lockdown came into effect at midnight.

Mr Andrews said on Friday that there needed to be a “cold, hard discussion” about reducing the number of travellers returning to Australia from overseas.

The Victorian weekly cap had been set to lift from 1210 to 1310 overseas arrivals.

Mr Andrews asked whether there should be a “much smaller program” of hotel quarantine that was “based on compassionate grounds” and said the more infectious UK variant meant the “game (had) changed”.

Chief medical officer says returnees must keep arriving

In response, Australia’s chief medical officer said on Saturday reiterated “vulnerable” Australians cannot be left to languish overseas.

Paul Kelly said he and his state-based counterparts were constantly discussing hotel quarantine protocols and safeguards.

He added the federal government could not ignore Australians stuck overseas for months on end, many of whom already unable to secure flights home.

“The states and territories themselves at a National Cabinet meeting very early on said it should be the states and territories – that is where the public health system is run, (they) have the various staff that are needed for this type of exercise,” Prof Kelly told reporters on Saturday.

“(As to) whether we should be taking fewer people home, I would say we do have vulnerable Australians overseas, the Australian government does has a responsibility to Australians overseas and for those who are vulnerable and really desperate to come home, we need to factor that in.”

On Friday evening, Victoria announced a pause on international passenger flights from Saturday, excluding those already in transit. The Victorian weekly cap had been set to lift from 1210 to 1310 overseas arrivals.

Prof Kelly said quarantine systems were complex but mostly effective.

“We have had a very small number of breaches (nationally) but of course we can always learn from what happens,” he said.

“That continuous quality improvement approach is what we are taking.”

Tweet from @VicGovDH

The virus has escaped from hotel quarantine in Sydney, Perth, Brisbane and Adelaide in recent months.

The Melbourne outbreak can be traced back to a family of three who quarantined at the Holiday Inn and are believed to have been infected overseas.

Elsewhere, NSW and Queensland on Saturday both reported no new local cases in their respective 24-hour reporting windows. Both states reported two new cases in travellers in hotel quarantine.

Victorian visitors to NSW from Saturday will be obliged to follow their home state’s “stay at home” orders. This does not apply to residents of NSW border communities unless they have visited Greater Melbourne.

But NSW has strongly advised its residents to avoid non-essential travel to Victoria.

Tasmania, Northern Territory, Queensland, Western Australia and South Australia have closed their borders to Victorian travellers.

Melbourne-based psychologist Dervla Loughnane said there would be a toll on mental health, with the number of calls for help steadily rising over the past few days.

Melbourne’s second lockdown kicked off on July 9, and did not end until late October.

Even once the state emerged from the 15-week strict lockdown, there were limits on in-home gatherings and face masks had to be worn outside.

-with AAP

The post Victorian Premier rejects suggestions lockdown could last weeks appeared first on The New Daily .

NSW police and surf lifesavers have been praised for their heroic efforts after two rock fishermen drowned but a third survived after being swept off rocks near Port Kembla south of Sydney.

Police said the alarm was raised by members of the public when three men from Lakemba and Wiley Park in western Sydney were washed into the sea on Friday evening near Hill 60 Lookout.

It’s the same spot where three men drowned last month.

Two of the fishermen, aged 38 and 31, died. A 42-year-old man is being treated in Wollongong Hospital for water inhalation and hypothermia.

“The actions of our officers, our surf lifesaving partners, our ambulance officers and the toll helicopter … certainly saved one person’s life,” NSW Police Superintendent Dean Smith told reporters on Saturday.

One of the police officers swam about 100 metres to retrieve a fisherman and police said all three fishermen were supported in the water.

Supt Smith paid tribute to the traffic and highway patrol officer who swam 100 metres to one of the fishermen, saying he was proud of the officer.

“It’s something that doesn’t happen every day,” he said.

Supt Smith said that two other police officers suffered minor injuries when they were hit by a wave while spotting for the rescue helicopter.

Police and surf lifesavers on Saturday again issued warnings about the dangers of rock fishing.

“We want people to be aware of the danger, we want them to be aware of the environment they’re going into,” Supt Smith said.

Surf Lifesaving NSW CEO Steven Pearce said there was a dangerous swell on Friday night and it’s believed none of the men were wearing life jackets or personal devices.

Mr Pearce said that the actions of lifesavers and police was “outstanding.”

“It was an extremely heroic effort … to do CPR on the rock platforms with still waves crashing over the rock platform,” he said.

“It just would have been a scene of havoc.”

NSW Ambulance Inspector Norm Rees urged people to take all safety precautions when taking part in activities around water.

“No words can describe the chaotic scene that paramedic crews and other first responders were faced with,” he said in a statement.

“It was absolutely heartbreaking to respond to a scene where previous lives have been lost despite the warnings.”

Human remains found in search for crocodile victim

In Queensland, human remains have been found during a search for a missing fisherman, as the hunt for a killer crocodile continues.

Police, SES and wildlife officers have been searching for the missing 69-year-old since he went fishing in a creek on Hinchinbrook Island about 3pm on Thursday.

The man was due back after an hour but failed to return and could not be contacted by radio, prompting his wife to call police.

His boat was found on Friday morning damaged and upside down in Gayundah Creek on the southwestern side of the island, located between Cairns and Townsville.

The damage to the boat indicated it was “highly likely” a crocodile was involved, the Department of Environment and Science (DES) said on Friday.

Human remains were found in the area by wildlife officers on Friday night, the DES and Queensland Police confirmed in a statement.

“At this stage, police believe the remains are those of the missing man, however forensic testing will be required to confirm this,” it said.

The search for more remains continues, as does wildlife officers’ hunt for the crocodile believed responsible.

-with AAP

The post Two rock fishermen dead, one saved, at Port Kembla appeared first on The New Daily .

Novak Djokovic has admitted his Australian Open title defence remains in the balance because of injury after revealing just how close he came to quitting the tournament during his narrow third-round escape.

The champion says that, “god willing”, he hopes to line up in Sunday’s fourth round match with big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic despite the suspected torn stomach muscle that almost derailed him against American Taylor Fritz on Friday.

Yet Djokovic offered a fairly gloomy prognosis when asked on Eurosport what his chances were.

“Let’s see,” he said with a shrug to the presenter, former three-time champion Mats Wilander.

“I don’t have a great experience with (muscle) tears in terms of continuing in tournaments so it’s kind of in the clouds for me at the moment whether I’m going to step out on the court in two days.

I’m a bit worried because I don’t know what’s going on. I think it’s a tear … Hopefully, god willing, I’ll be able to play.”

Yet the eight-time Melbourne champion admitted he could already have departed the tournament by now, such was his distress when he called for the trainer while in agony in the third set.

“I knew right away that something not so great was happening,” reflected the world No.1.

“I don’t want to talk about the intensity or the level of injury and pain; it’s not going to matter much because people don’t understand what you go through on the court,” he said.

“But the way it felt definitely at the beginning of that third set when I got my first medical time-out, I was debating really strongly in my head to retire because I couldn’t move, I couldn’t rotate, I couldn’t return.

“The only thing I could do is serve – and that’s what got me out of the trouble.”

Djokovic said he felt his 7-6 (7-1) 6-4 3-6 4-6 6-2 victory under these circumstances was “one of the best moments I’ve had in my career.”

He also reflected on a unique occasion which saw the match start in front of a boisterous crowd and end without spectators after they were directed to leave at 11.30pm with Victoria about to go into COVID-19 lockdown for five days.

“Nothing surprises me any more with what we’re experiencing globally,” said Djokovic, when asked what he felt about the enforced mid-match exodus.

“Obviously, it’s a unique experience for me – to play half of the match in front of a crowd and half of the match without the crowd. I’ve never experienced anything like that before.

“I’m just hoping that, for my own sake, I’ll be able to play and, for the sake of this tournament, we’ll be able to have a crowd very quickly.”

-AAP

The post Injured Djokovic admits his title defence is in the balance appeared first on The New Daily .

President Joe Biden will seek to close the prison on the US base at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba following a review process, resuming a project begun under the Obama administration, the White House says.

White House press secretary Jen Psaki said it was the “intention” of the Biden administration to close the detention facility, something president Barack Obama pledged to do within a year of taking office in January 2009.

Psaki gave no timeline, telling reporters the formal review would be “robust” and would require the participation of officials from the Department of Defence, the Justice Department and other agencies who have not yet been appointed under the new administration.

Obama ran into intense domestic political opposition when he attempted to close the detention centre, a notorious symbol of the US fight against terrorism.

But Biden may have more leeway now there are only 40 prisoners left and Guantanamo draws much less public attention.

The US opened the detention centre in January 2002 to hold people suspected of ties to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.

It became a source of international criticism over the mistreatment of prisoners and the prolonged imprisonment of people without charge.

Biden had said as a candidate he supported closing the detention centre and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin said so as well during his Senate confirmation.

The 40 remaining prisoners at Guantanamo include five who were previously cleared for release through an intensive review process created under Obama as part of the effort to close the detention centre and transfer the remaining prisoners to US facilities.

At its peak in 2003, the detention centre at the navy base on the southeast tip of Cuba held nearly 680 prisoners.

Amid the international outrage, George W Bush called it a “a propaganda tool for our enemies and a distraction for our allies” and said he supported closing it but left it to his successor.

Under Bush, the US began efforts to prosecute some of the prisoners for war crimes in special tribunals known as military commissions, but the government also released 532 prisoners.

-AAP

The post Joe Biden planning closure of Guantanamo Bay prison appeared first on The New Daily .

At least 16 workers have been killed in a blaze at a fireworks factory in southern India, police say.

As many as 32 other workers were injured in the accident in a village in Tamil Nadu state’s Virudhunagar district.

While most of the victims succumbed to burn injuries on the scene, others died at hospital, local police officer Raj Narayanan said by phone.

“There were a series of explosions followed by the fire which engulfed the unit. Several cracker-making sheds were completely gutted,” Narayanan said.

“The blasts continued for a long time making it difficult for fire and rescue services personnel to enter the unit,” he said, adding the firefighters were eventually successful in controlling the blaze.

The death toll could rise as several of the injured were said to be in critical condition.

Footage on domestic channels showed dense black plumes emerging from the factory as crowds of villagers gathered at the accident site.

Police said the plant was operating with the necessary licences but said they were trying to determine the cause of the accident and probe whether the unit was using permitted explosives and materials.

“Friction during mixing of chemicals appears to have caused the explosion,” an officer from the local fire department told broadcaster NDTV.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered condolences for the lives lost in the accident as state authorities announced compensation for the families of the victims.

-AAP

The post Fireworks explosion kills 16 Indian workers appeared first on The New Daily .

Russian dissident Alexei Navalny has come out swinging during his court appearance on charges of insulting a World War II veteran, after the trial was interrupted last week by the plaintiff’s health issues.

Navalny told the judge that she was selected for the trial because she was “the most unscrupulous judge in the world” and should go back to school to become better acquainted with Russian laws.

The Kremlin critic was charged after he criticised a video broadcast by state media last year in which several citizens spoke out in favour of changing Russia’s constitution – a change critics say cemented President Vladimir Putin’s control of the government.

Navalny tweeted a clip of the video, calling the people who appeared in it “traitors”.

One was a veteran who had fought in World War II and said he was so offended by Navalny’s comments that they led his health to deteriorate, prompting him to press defamation charges.

The trial opened on February 5.

Navalny has denied the accusations and said the case was politically motivated.

His lawyer called the trial another attempt to silence Navalny, a vocal critic of Putin.

Navalny has also suggested that the 94-year-old veteran was mentally unable to follow the trial and is just a “puppet” in the trial.

The veteran had tuned in to the proceedings’ first day by video from his home but did not appear on Friday.

Instead, his lawyer read his biography for 20 minutes and highlighted his wartime achievements ≠ which Navalny complained had nothing to do with the trial at hand.

Several witnesses were called to testify against Navalny on Friday; however, one who wanted to testify in his defence was initially not allowed in.

Navalny complained the older man had been left outside in minus 15C weather on purpose and chastised the court.

If convicted, Navalny could face fines, compulsory labour or prison.

Navalny has already been sentenced to three-and-a-half years in prison in a separate case on charges of violating parole for a fraud conviction.

This was despite the fact that he could not report to parole officers because he had to be taken to Germany while comatose after an attack with a nerve agent, then stayed there to recuperate for several months.

Navalny’s supporters are planning a decentralised, peaceful protest action on Sunday to make it harder for police to arrest them: people across Russia will stand in front of their homes and hold torches aloft.

The post Dissident Navalny slams judge in court appearance appeared first on The New Daily .

The US Senate has voted to give the Congressional Gold Medal to Eugene Goodman, a Capitol Police officer who led a violent mob away from the Senate doors on January 6 as they hunted for lawmakers during the presidential electoral count.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer called the vote at the end of the day’s impeachment proceedings against former President Donald Trump, noting Goodman’s “foresight in the midst of chaos”.

The Senate voted to award Goodman the medal – the highest honour Congress can bestow – by unanimous consent, meaning there were no objections.

Goodman was in the Senate chamber as Schumer spoke, and the entire Senate stood and turned toward him, giving him a standing ovation. He put his hand on his heart.

Defense attorney Michael van der Veen speaks on the fourth day of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial. Photo: AAP

Goodman has been in the chamber for much of the impeachment trial, in which House Democrats are charging that former President Donald Trump incited the January 6 insurrection.

The trial saw new video of Goodman leading Republican Senator Mitt Romney to safety as he unknowingly headed toward a location where the mob had gathered.

Earlier, lawyers for Mr Trump wrapped up their presentation in the former president’s impeachment trial in just three hours, claiming the proceedings were a ‘witch hunt’.

Lawyers argued Mr Trump did not incite the January 6 rally crowd to riot at the US Capitol and that his words were merely figures of speech.

Their truncated defence barely used the full time allotted, 16 hours over two days. Many senators minds appear already made up.

The former president’s lawyers also accused the Democrats of “constitutional cancel culture” as they launch a defence of the former president on day four of the impeachment trial.

Mr Trump’s team argued the impeachment was  “plainly unconstitutional” while claiming evidence presented against him was “manufactured” and footage had been selectively edited.

The defence had been allocated 16 hours to argue that Mr Trump was not responsible for inciting the riot which resulted in the deaths of five people, including a police officer.

In their early arguments, Mr Trump’s team focussed heavily on the former president’s use of the word “fight” during his January 6 speech to supporters who went on to invade the Capitol.

They presented a 10-minute video montage of numerous Democrats also saying “fight” in TV interviews to argue that using that word was common in politics and did not mean Mr Trump was encouraging physical violence.

Defence attorney Michael van der Veen said the Democrats were trying to disqualify their political opposition in an “an unjust and blatantly unconstitutional act of political vengeance”.

“History will record this shameful effort as a deliberate attempt by the Democrat party to smear, censor and cancel not just President Trump, but the 75 million Americans who voted for him,” Mr van der Veen said.

“Like every other politically motivated witch hunt, the left has engaged in over the past four years, this impeachment is completely divorced from the facts, the evidence, and the interests of the American people.

Defence lawyers presented video footage of Mr Trump’s January 6 speech before the Capitol riots which they said had been manipulated and selectively edited by the Democrats to focus on the word “fight”.

They said the president’s speech should be heard in context.

“The president’s remarks explicitly encouraged those in attendance to exercise their rights peacefully and patriotically,” Mr van der Veen said.

Mr van der Veen said there was evidence that the riots on 6 January were “pre-planned”.

“Tragically, as we know now, on 6 January a small group who came to engage in violent and menacing behaviour hijacked the event for their own purposes,” he said.

“The fact that these attacks were premeditated demonstrates the ludicrousness of the incitement allegations against the [former] president. You can’t incite what was already going to happen.”

Defence attorney Michael van der Veen speaks on the fourth day of former President Donald Trump’s second impeachment trial.

The Democrats appear highly unlikely to secure a conviction and bar Mr Trump from holding public office again because they need a two-thirds majority in the Senate.

That means at least 17 Republican senators would have to defy Mr Trump, who remains popular with most Republican voters and has shown interest in running for president again in 2024.

On the first three days of the trial, Democratic prosecutors made the case that Mr Trump incited a deadly insurrection by encouraging his supporters to march on the US Capitol.

House managers focused on Mr Trump’s fiery words to supporters in the weeks leading up to the January 6 attack, when he falsely claimed that his election defeat by Democrat Joe Biden was the result of fraud and that the crowd needed to “fight” and “stop the steal”.

Lead impeachment manager representative Jamie Raskin warned that not convicting Donald Trump could mean more trouble in the future.

“If he gets back into office and it happens again, we’ll have no one to blame but ourselves,” Mr Raskin told the Senate on Thursday, wrapping up the prosecution arguments.

Fellow Democratic Representative Ted Lieu told the senators he worried about what would happen if Mr Trump ran in 2024 and lost.

“I’m not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years. I’m afraid he’s going to run again and lose, because he can do this again,” Mr Lieu said.

The Democratic prosecutors provided example after example of Mr Trump’s actions before the rampage to illustrate what he intended when he told supporters to go to the Capitol and “fight like hell”.

Mr Trump is the first US president to be impeached twice and the first to face trial after leaving office.

His first impeachment trial, which stemmed from his efforts to pressure Ukraine to investigate then-presidential opponent Joe Biden, ended in an acquittal a year ago in what was then a Republican-controlled Senate.

-with AAP

The post Impeachment Trial Day 4: Trump’s defence wraps up in three hours, senate honors officer appeared first on The New Daily .

New accusations against Buffy and Angel creator Joss Whedon have fuelled debate over toxic workplaces and abuse, and whether we can separate the art from the artist.

Actor Charisma Carpenter, who played Cordelia Chase in both shows, took to Instagram to share her experience of working with Whedon.

“Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel,” Carpenter wrote.

“Joss has a history of being casually cruel. He has created hostile and toxic work environments since his early career. I know because I experienced it first-hand. Repeatedly.”

The 50-year-old went on to detail a number of incidents that “wreaked havoc on a young actor’s self-esteem,” including Whedon’s passive-aggressive threats to fire her, and openly calling her “fat” to her colleagues.

Carpenter also claimed she was “unceremoniously fired” after she fell pregnant.

Dr Jessica Ford, a lecturer at The University of Newcastle’s School of Humanities and Social Sciences, said it isn’t as simple as ‘cancelling’ Whedon’s work in light of the accusations.

“No television and no film is the result of a single author. It’s the result of a collaboration of a large amount of people – many of the people who worked on Buffy in particular, are women like Jane Espenson, Marti Noxon,” Dr Ford told The New Daily.

“Once the text is in the world it takes on new meaning, once Harry Potter is in the world, once Buffy is in the world, they take on particular resonances, particular ideas, and they have meaning beyond the author themselves. “

Whedon joins a list of high-profile to have mounting allegations of abuse levelled against them in recent weeks.

Singer Marilyn Manson has been accused of domestic violence and sexual assault by a number of former girlfriends, including Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld) and Esme Bianco (Game of Thrones).

Actor Armie Hammer (Call Me By Your Name) has been accused of coercing women to perform violent sexual acts.

Dr Ford believes that while known abusers should be barred from working in their industries, the onus shouldn’t fall on consumers.

“Everyone has different lines for themselves for what they’re willing to cancel,” she said.

However, the #MeToo movement has changed the way the public views claims of abuse, Dr Ford said.

“It’s not that women are speaking, it’s that women are being believed,” Dr Ford said.

“Women have always talked about their abuse, women have always discussed the kinds of toxic work environments they’ve had to endure, they’ve always discussed the types of sexual harassment and gaslighting they’ve had to endure.

“What’s different about now is that women are being believed. The ‘he-said-she-said’ thing is no longer a legitimate defence

Buffy stars distance themselves from Whedon

Carpenter’s claims against Whedon are not the first.

Whedon’s wife Kai Cole penned a scathing letter in 2017 alleging deceptive and manipulative behaviours.

Sarah Michelle Gellar has come out in support of Carpenter. Photo: Mutant Enemy / IMDB

James Marsters, who played Spike, has also spoken candidly of Whedon’s aggressive and intimidating behaviour on the Buffy set.

Ray Fisher, who worked with Whedon on Justice League said the director’s behaviour was “gross, abusive, unprofessional and completely unacceptable”.

Sarah Michelle Geller, who played Buffy Summers, shared her own message of support for Carpenter.

“While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon,” Gellar wrote on Instagram.

“I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out.”

Amber Benson, who played Willow’s love interest, Tara, also took a stand with Carpenter and said much of the cast were still processing the abuse two decades later.

Buffy was a toxic environment and it starts at the top. @AllCharisma is speaking truth and I support her 100%. There was a lot of damage done during that time and many of us are still processing it twenty plus years later. #IStandWithRayFisher #IStandWithCharismaCarpenter https://t.co/WJAmDGm76C

— Amber Benson (@amber_benson) February 10, 2021

Michelle Trachtenberg, who starred alongside Gellar as Buffy’s little sister Dawn, reposted Gellar’s message on Instagram.

“I am brave enough now as a 35-year-old woman …To repost this,” she wrote in the caption .

The actress remained vague, but went on to say there was a rule that prohibited Whedon from being “allowed in a room alone with Michelle”.

The post As <i>Buffy</i> stars distance themselves from creator Joss Whedon, fans face a dilemma appeared first on The New Daily .