Justice League director Zack Snyder reportedly threatened the film's producer Geoff Johns.
According to a report by Rolling Stone, the director was ready to take action against Johns after Warner Bros. allegedly ignored his demands to remove both his and producer Jon Berg's names from the credits of Zack Snyder's Justice League. Citing several sources who were familiar with the film's production, after the removal of Johns' name had been delayed, Snyder confronted a Warner Bros. executive, stating, "Geoff and Jon are dragging their feet on taking their names off my cut. Now, I will destroy them on social media." The report claims that Snyder blamed the pair for his ousting from the project and ultimately losing control of the wider DC Extended Universe.
Despite the alleged statement, Synder insists that he never followed up on his words. The filmmaker stated that neither he nor his wife Deborah, anotherproducer who was pushing for Johns' and Berg's names to be excised from Zack Snyder's Justice League, never publically criticized the duo. "[We] have [never] said anything negative about Geoff Johns or Jon Berg on social media or in interviews," Zack Snyder said. The director stated that he wanted the producers' names to be removed because his cut of Justice League "was not the movie they believed in, developed, or helped us to get made." A few months before the release of Zack Snyder's Justice League, Johns reportedly received targeted online harassment from fans who associated with the #reALEASETHESNYDERCUT movement.
Beyond threatening Johns and Berg, Rolling Stone's report also alleges that much of the following acquired by the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut movement comprised of bots and fake accounts. According to a WarnerMedia-commissioned investigation, approximately 13 percent of the accounts which contributed to the online movement were "inauthentic." The report further alleges that bots also assisted in both Army of the Dead, another Snyder-helmed production, and Zack Snyder's Justice League winning the fan-voted categories of Oscars' Fan Favorite and Oscars' Cheer Moment at the 2022 Academy Awards.
Synder addressed the allegations of bot use to drum up support for his version of Justice League, stating that focusing on the negativity surrounding the movie's fandom doesn't help anyone. "As an artist it was fulfilling to be able to finally see my vision realized after such a difficult time in my life and for it to be so well received," Snyder said. "I am grateful to both the fan community and Warner Bros. for allowing this to happen. To dwell on negativity and rumors serves no one."
Source: Rolling Stone
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