X-Men ’97 creator and head writer Beau DeMayo was removed from the show and later stripped of credit for its second season. He now says that was over a gay pride post he made on Instagram last June. A statement from Disney claims that’s false and that the creative was fired over “egregious” misconduct.
“Mr. DeMayo was terminated in March 2024 following an internal investigation,” the company said in a statement to Variety. “Given the egregious nature of the findings, we severed ties with him immediately and he has no further affiliation with Marvel.”
Disney’s statement came after a surprise post from DeMayo in which he suggested a gay pride post on Instagram on June 4 sharing fan art of the writer as Cyclops was the real reason he was stripped of credit for X-Men ’97’s upcoming season 2.
“Above is #XMen fan-art I posted on Instagram for Gay Pride in June,” DeMayo tweeted on August 16. “On June 13, #Marvel sent a letter notifying me that they’d stripped my Season 2 credits due to the post. Sadly, this is the latest in a troubling pattern I suffered through while on working on #XMen97 and #Blade. I’ll have more to say soon but must take a step back from social media to find a safer space for me to be out, proud, and nerdy. Stay tuned.”
While DeMayo parted ways with Marvel just prior to the release of X-Men ‘97’s first season, a Disney+ sequel to the beloved cartoon series that used to air on Fox Kids, he was vocal about the show after it began streaming, discussing the story with fans and saying he had written “a lot” of season 2 before leaving the show. DeMayo also frequently weighed in on fan theories, including confirming that non-binary mutant Morph had romantic feelings for Wolverine.
The exact circumstances around his firing were unclear at the time, but a source now tells Variety that “evidence” of alleged sexual misconduct was part of the investigation of DeMayo prior to his departure. Marvel Animation chief Brad Winderbaum previously told Variety that DeMayo “did excellent work writing Seasons 1 and 2, and I can’t wait for fans to see the series.”
Responding to Disney’s most recent statement on his firing, DeMayo wrote in a follow-up post last night that “The truth will be revealed.” He continued, “After their Disney Plus disaster, Marvel wants to mislead with alleged contract breaches over tweets. It’s tragic it’s come to this but unsurprising. Stay tuned.”
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