Star Wars comic book writer Chuck Wendig was fired last week for various vulgar political tweets he shared, KOMO News reported.
“F*** Trump. But he’s just the ugly fake-gold mask they’ve put on this thing. F*** all the GOP, f*** that blubbering, bristling frat boy judge, f*** McConnell, Ryan, Grassley, Collins, every last one of them,” Wending wrote after Justice Brett Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court.
Wendig went on a Twitter rant about his firing:
So, here’s a thing that has happened – I just got fired from Marvel. Taken off issues 4 and 5 of SHADOW OF VADER, and taken off an as-yet-unannounced SW book.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
This might be a long thread, so apologies in advance.
(I hesitate to talk about this, because honestly, it gives the Worst Possible People a win, something they’ve wanted for a while. But I also feel like I’ve long held to honesty and forthrightness, and I don’t feel like lying when people realize I’m not on these books anymore.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
To rewind a little bit, when SW: AFTERMATH came out, I assume most know but maybe you don’t, I put some ahh, elements in there (LGBT characters) that were not received well by a certain subset of fandom.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
That resulted in both a negative review campaign, found across various FB groups and other Worst Places on the Internet, that began mounting the very minute the book dropped online.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I was literally at a midnight release of the book, and when I got done, there were already a pile of one-star reviews piling up – which seemed strange, obviously. And scary, too. I didn't understand what was happening at the time.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(And as a caveat, obviously I recognize that yes, some people just don’t like the book for the Usual Reasons, and people who hold those reasons are not to be lumped in with the more septic side of fandom. Tl;dr see also TLJ reviews.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I also started receiving TONS of harassment – harassment that has gone on for years, harassment that has required me to contact local police and warn them of SWATting attempts, harassment across all corners of the Internet, here, FB, Reddit, YouTube.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Some of it was bot stuff, obviously, or sock puppets, but some of it was pretty creepy, and very personal. I didn't call a lot of it out or even highlight, but it was there, a sort of... constant background noise.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
(Christ, for an extra special treat go search for my name and check out the YouTube videos if you want an eye-opening glimpse.)
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And I was worried of course because, jeez, I thought I had screwed up. I wondered for a time if the book was bad. But then it hit list and stayed on list for four weeks – and the next two books hit list, too, and EMPIRE’S END landed even higher on the list than the first book.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And privately, I was told by folks inside LFL that there was no worry here, that they valued that I spoke out both speaking up for myself and for STAR WARS, which has always honestly been a progressive brand and company.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
And it made me very proud to work for them, too, not just because -- holy hell, basking in the glow of STAR WARS, but because the people were great, and they totally got it.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
I put all this in a blog post, if any require it --
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Also thank you again, seriously, SERIOUSLY, to everyone who has reached out. It has meant the world to me. https://t.co/n7wz3GIaqm
And real-talk, I'll be okay, I've got books coming out and some other cool stuff in the works -- comics was (thankfully) a marginal resource for me, though I hope to keep working in comics somehow, if only because I dig it.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
Be more concerned for people with less power and more marginalized voices -- who even BEFORE big projects at the bottom of huge funnels of harassment. Be good to each other. I'm gonna go hug my kid and eat a sandwich.
— Chuck Wendig (@ChuckWendig) October 12, 2018
He also wrote a blog post explaining his firing.
"Today I got the call. I’m fired. Because of the negativity and vulgarity that my tweets bring," Wendig explained. "Seriously, that’s what Mark, the editor said. It was too much politics, too much vulgarity, too much negativity on my part."
This isn't the first time Wendig has gone on tangents about right-wing politics and how he disagrees with the Republican Party. He does, however, feel that his firing sets a dangerous precedent for other writers.
One we’ve seen already – James Gunn, Jessica White, and so on – of folks fired because they riled up the wasp’s nest of asterisk-gate. And it seems odd to be mad that I’m mad about politics when – well, look around. Climate change, kids in cages, sexual harassers at the topmost tiers of power, and so on. A call for civility as the PA GOP candidate threatens Tom Wolf with a golf cleat stomping. I dunno, man.
...
To conclude: this is really quite chilling. And it breaks my heart. I am very sad, and worried for the country I live in, and the world, and for creative people all around. Courage to you all. I have a dire fear this is going to get a whole lot worse before it gets better.
P.S. Vote in November like your life depends on it. Because it just might.
Wendig was hired to produce a five issue mini-series called “Shadow of Vader." He wrote three of the five and the first is slated to drop in January. It's unclear what will happen to the remainder of the miniseries or who will write the remaining issues.
The writer also says he was taken off an unannounced Star Wars project.
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