Ray Fisher’s public battle with Warner Bros. seems to be heating up.
As background, the 33-year-old actor who portrayed Cyborg in the studio’s Justice League film claimed back in June that the film’s director Joss Whedon engaged in “gross, abusive, unprofessional, and completely unacceptable” conduct on set when Whedon took over for the film’s original director Zack Snyder.
Warner Bros. issued a detailed statement to Entertainment Weekly earlier this month acknowledging that Fisher had requested a third-party investigator, but stated Fisher had refused to specify his complaints and did not meet with the investigators that the studio hired to look into the issue.
“In July, Ray Fisher’s representatives asked DC Films President Walter Hamada to talk to Mr. Fisher about his concerns during the production of Justice League,” the statement read. “The two had previously spoken when Mr. Hamada asked him to reprise his role as Cyborg in Warner Bros.’ upcoming Flash movie, together with other members of the Justice League.”
“In their July conversation, Mr. Fisher recounted disagreements he’d had with the film’s creative team regarding his portrayal of Cyborg, and complained that his suggested script revisions were not adopted,” the statement added. “Mr. Hamada explained that creative differences are a normal part of the production process, and that a film’s writer/director ultimately has to be in charge of these matters.”
Fisher responded to the statement via Twitter, calling WB’s response a “desperate and scattershot attempt to discredit [him] to continue protecting those in power.”
He also included a screenshot that he sent to his representatives, which read, “Hey Crew, just got off the line with the investigator. Had to end the interview early before going into detail with him. He’s definitely been put on the case by Warner Bros. Pictures not Warner Media. His findings will go directly and solely to Warner Bros. Pictures legal. He also had another person on the line as a witness which we weren’t made aware of. I told him I needed to have a rep on the line as security for myself. He tried to keep me on the line, but I told him I would need to consult my team before proceeding.”
On Sept. 14, Fisher tweeted a claim that WB’s investigator has failed to contact key witnesses who provided “damning” information to the studio’s HR department.
Fisher has finally gotten public support from some of his Justice League co-stars, including Kiersey Clemons and Jason Momoa. In a recent Instagram post, Momoa claimed a July announcement that he had been cast in a Frosty the Snowman film was fake and a diversion tactic used to maintain good public relations as Warner Bros. is currently involved in this pretty big profile investigation involving Fisher.
“I just think it’s fucked up that people released a fake Frosty announcement without my permission to try to distract from Ray Fisher speaking up about the shitty way we were treated on Justice League reshoots. Serious stuff went down. It needs to be investigated and people need to be held accountable,” Momoa wrote, hashtagging the post with #IStandWithRayFisher.
According to Fisher, the “fake Frosty news” isn’t the only example of this type of PR diversion.
“Unfortunately, the fake Frosty news with Jason wasn’t the only PR tactic used to distract from the seriousness of the JL situation. Ben returning as Batman was clearly meant to be revealed at DC Fandome. I’ll give you one guess as to why @wbpictures likely jumped the gun,” Fisher tweeted, supplying screenshots of his previous tweets regarding Warner Bros. internal investigation announcement in August. In the screenshots, he showed that the Batman news dropped on the same date he tweeted about the investigation.
The fan-anticipated “Snyder Cut” of Justice League is set to drop on HBO Max in 2021.
The Root has reached out to representatives for Warner Bros., who have confirmed they have no further comment beyond the previous statement they’ve made. The Root has also reached out to representatives for Fisher and Momoa for comment on this matter and is awaiting a response.