Earlier this year, just days before the debut of the first episode of Marvel Animation’s “X-Men ’97” on Disney+, it was revealed that the show’s head writer, Beau DeMayo, was no longer working for the company.

Work began on the second season of “X-Men ’97” a while ago, and it consists of episodes written by Beau, though Marvel has also brought in a new writer, Matthew Chauncey, who wrote the Disney+ Original series “What If?” to write the third season.

Beau DeMayo has previously worked as a writer on the Disney+ Original series, “Moon Knight”, and the Netflix Original series, “The Witcher”. He also worked on early drafts of the upcoming Marvel film, “Blade”. 

Following Beau’s firing, he briefly stopped posting on social media, but popped back up talking about the show once it was nominated for an Emmy.  But recently, he revealed that Marvel had removed Beau’s writer credit for the second series, which has been removed after he shared some “X-Men ’97″ gay pride-themed fan art.

“Above is #XMen fan-art I posted on Instagram for Gay Pride in June. 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.”

Marvel responded to this information by stating to THR that he was fired after a misconduct investigation that produced findings of “egregious nature”.

“Mr. DeMayo was terminated in March 2024 following an internal investigation.  Given the egregious nature of the findings, we severed ties with him immediately, and he has no further affiliation with Marvel.”

Apparently, following his exit from Marvel, an agreement had been made between the two parties that he wouldn’t post on social media about the “X-Men” series, but DeMayo continued to do so.

Sources say that following his exit, an agreement was reached between the two parties over the issue of tweeting about the show, something that DeMayo had continued to occasionally do. In light of the breaches, his credit for season two was removed. While no details of the cause of the termination or the internal reviews have surfaced, sources say it involved sexual misconduct.

After the news of DeMayo’s writing credit being removed and Marvel’s response, Beau took to social media to state:

“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.  The truth will be revealed. 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.”

Following this, Beau hired attorney Bryan Freedman, who also released a statement regarding the firing:

“Having much experience with Disney, the playbook is always the same. Family friendly on the outside, but secretly attempting to plant illegal unconscionable items in contracts that silence the truth and stop the employee/customer from asserting basic constitutional rights. As we will explain through detailed examples which we will roll out in detail one by one, Disney’s model is very clear and a repetitive illegal pattern.”

Very little information on why Beau DeMayo was fired. However, more details on why Beau DeMayo was fired by Marvel were then revealed by an insider, Jeff Sneider, who stated that Beau had allegedly sent nude photos of himself to young male staffers striking sexually suggestive “hero” poses that could be used as “inspiration” for the show.   Plus, allegedly, he groped an assistant on multiple occasions.    Beau was also apparently removed from Netflix’s “The Witcher” for similar issues.  However, it’s unlikely that Marvel will respond to these reports.

Roger’s Take:  Both sides are being very cagey about what’s actually happened.   This has become a major PR nightmare for Disney, who have been trying to keep details quiet, but with Beau DeMayo then going public on social media, this is likely going to be either going to court or we might never hear anything more about it ever again.  

What do you think of this situation?  Let me know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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