EXCLUSIVE: “These allegations of egregious misconduct are false,” said former X-Men ’97 showrunner Beau DeMayo today about the dark cloud of “gossip” over his sudden pink slipping by Marvel/Disney from the Emmy-nominated animated series just before its debut earlier this year.
Flipping the script, the seasoned scribe called out Marvel its alleged “toxic environment” and “near criminal working conditions” that “turns individuals against one another, stokes paranoia to ensure compliance.”
Months after DeMayo’s exit in March, Marvel/Disney exclaimed in August that he was fired because of the “egregious nature of the findings” in a misconduct probe. Last month, DeMayo said that he was let go because of some LGBTQ fan art. Rumors at Disney have swirled around photos supposedly sent to X-Men ’97 colleagues and accusations of getting too touchy with people on X-Men ’97.
Watch on Deadline
Today, as attorney Bryan Freedman filed an expedited jury trial seeking complaint in LA Superior Court to have an allegedly “illegal non-disparagement provision” removed from the writer’s exit package documents, DeMayo took to OnlyFans to call BS on the Kevin Feige-run Marvel and Bob Iger-led Disney.
“The rumors being spread around me online are lies, and they are offensive, but more concerning is that they’re a smear campaign designed to discredit my credibility in order to cover up the egregious prejudicial misconduct stretching from select crew members on X-Men ’97, all the way all the way to the top at Marvel Studios,” DeMayo declared in his nearly 30-minute remarks to camera on the often explicit subscription social platform.
Admitting that “personality conflicts happen, especially in creative environments like Hollywood, DeMayo also acknowledged that he has long known he is “not everyone’s cup of tea.”
Yet, in a nutshell, DeMayo asserted today that him “being gay, Black and open about it at Marvel Studios” and was the real issue the company had with him and why he was tossed out and later saw his credits for the upcoming second season of the mutant saga removed. In fact, spotlighting the timeline of his departure, DeMayo says that it was only after his intial conversation with company HR that he “no longer felt safe at the studio as a gay Black man” that he was shown the door.
As DeMayo bluntly said this morning:
In the end, the offenses Marvel and others have leaked are designed to distract you from what really offended them. Someone like me dared to speak truth to people like them. They wanted me to be the Black stamp of approval on this project, I declined. They wanted to erase aspects of my personality that clashed or proved inconvenient with the misguided narratives they wanted to establish. I declined. 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.
Addressing the minutiae of his dismissal from Marvel and the weeks of fallout, DeMayo laid down a pretty stringent marker for the Mouse House: “I have the receipts and the eyewitnesses so long as you stop coercing them to lie, you can keep attacking me with lies and misinformation, but we can become the ugliest, most annoying version of that of that … or you can start acting like a studio that is worthy of a show like X Men ‘97.”
To that end, the filing today from Freedman makes some pretty harsh claims against defendant Marvel Amination Studios for trying to shove DeMayo out and shut him up.
“DeMayo, who intends to detail his prior employment with Marvel via OnlyFans, bore witness to and endured rampant discriminatory and harassing conduct during his years-long tenure with the Company,” says the six-page filing in downtown LA today from the Liner Freedman Taitelman + Cooley LLP co-founder. “Well aware that DeMayo possessed copious knowledge regarding Marvel’s illicit and unsafe employment practices, the Company sought to silence DeMayo as part of his forced ouster.”
“Backed by an army of well-versed employment attorneys, Marvel knowingly incorporated an illegal non-disparagement provision designed to muzzle an openly gay Black man and restrict his statutory rights,” the complaint adds. “And, in fact, Marvel invoked this unenforceable provision to justify its nefarious removal of DeMayo’s credits on the acclaimed series X-Men ‘97.”
Specifically, to ensure DeMayo would keep “his bonus and writing credits,” the provision DeMayo’s exit NDA states:
Lender [Marvel] and Artist [DeMayo] hereby agree to seek the prior approval of Marvel on the substance of any press release, news story, announcement, publicity, or comments to the press relating to the change of relationship between the Parties in connection with this Settlement Agreement, the DeMayo Agreements, any of Artist’s services to Marvel (including Artist’s working relationships with anyone Artist knows to be a current or former employee or representative of Marvel or its affiliated companies), the Series, or the early termination of the DeMayo Agreements. Once the initial mutually approved press release is issued, Lender and Artist can refer such requests to the initial press release without seeking approval. Further, Lender, Artist, and Marvel hereby agree that the Parties will mutually agree in advance on the date of issuance of any press release, news story, announcement, or publicity relating to the change of relationship between the Parties in connection with this Settlement Agreement, the DeMayo Agreements, or the early termination of the DeMayo Agreements. Lender and Artist shall make no disparaging or derogatory statements or remarks concerning the Series or Marvel or its affiliated companies, anyone they know to be current or former employees or representatives of Marvel or its affiliated companies in a manner that could reasonably be expected to cause reputational injury to Marvel or its affiliated companies.
Freedman wants the court to strip the non-disparagement provision from DeMayo’s NDA ASAP
“There are only two possible explanations for why Marvel and Disney had Beau sign an NDA that so obviously violated basic California law,” the Hollywood heavyweight attorney told Deadline this morning.
“Either incredulously Marvel and Disney’s hundreds of lawyers who advise over 250,000 employees all just happened to make a mistake or Marvel knowingly and intentionally attempted to silence Beau so they could have total control as to why he was no longer at Marvel, why he had his credits removed on season 2 and why he was uninvited to attend the very award show that nominated his hard work for an Emmy,” Freedman went on to say. “Violating Beau’s statutory California rights will cost Marvel this case but more importantly, Marvel can no longer stop the truth from coming out.”
On the matter of that truth, neither DeMayo or Freedman have named names as of yet. The “yet” being the operative word here.
Disney did not respond to request from Deadline for comment on DeMayo’s claims. If and when they do, either directly or in court, this post will be updated