Sarah Michelle Gellar claims she SACKED a crew member on new show Wolf Pack who 'offered back rubs'

Sarah Michelle Gellar has claimed she sacked a crew member working on her new show, Wolf Pack , after they offered ‘back rubs’ to a cast member.

The iconic actress, 45, who has previously spoken out on the ‘toxic’ Buffy The Vampire Slayer set run by Joss Whedon, has pledged to ‘give young actors on the show the safety net I never had’ in a candid interview with The Hollywood Reporter.

Gellar, who stars and executive produces the upcoming Paramount+ show has given her phone number to cast members and promised to ‘discreetly handle concerns – before alleging a crew member made a star uncomfortable when they offered back rubs.

She said the crew member – who was not identified – was sacked as soon as she found out, saying: ‘I hope that I’ve set up an infrastructure, a safety net for these actors that I didn’t have. My generation just didn’t have that.’

The Scream 2 actress said she has learned over her years in the industry to never back down and recounted an incident on a recent set where she was overlooked in favour of a man.

She said: ‘There was an issue at work the other day where they kept forgetting to send things for my approval but remembered to send them to a male actor who’s not a producer. ‘Oh, just old processes,’ they said, ‘Sorry.’ OK, then let’s make a new process. 

She added the ‘old me would have backed down’ but she now felt she had ‘earned the right to stand where I am.’  

In Wolf Pack Gellar plays a member of a ‘joint task force’ investigating a mysterious wildfire.

Supernatural events start occurring after the wildfire breaks out and is witnessed by a group of teenagers on a school bus.

‘Everyone knows that Buffy The Vampire Slayer was a huge influence on Teen Wolf,’ Jeff Davis – the creator of the MTV series and Wolf Pack – said at a Comic-Con panel last year.  

‘So I always thought it would be amazing if we could bring Sarah Michelle Gellar back to a horror show,’ he continued.

Gellar – who plays arson investigator Kristin Ramsey and is also an executive producer on the show – said in the trailer: ‘We’re part of a joint task force investigating the wildfires. We’re looking for any of the kids who were on the school bus.’ 

The synopsis of the series reads: ‘When a raging wildfire descends on California, a mysterious creature hiding out in the forest is awoken and a group of teenagers find their lives changed forever.’ 

The original series – a TV adaptation of the book series by Edo Van Belkom – will also be starring Rodrigo Santoro, Armani Jackson, Bella Shepard, Chloe Rose Robertson, and Tyler Lawrence Gray. 

Buffy The Vampire Slayer creator Whedon has been hit by allegations of abusive and toxic behavior on set of the hit show, which ran from 1997-2003 – he has denied the allegations but admitted to at times not being ‘mannerly.’

Gellar’s co-star Seth Green, 48, who played Oz on the show, hit back at claims she was a ‘b***h’ on set, saying the cast and crew worked ‘crazy’  13-15 hour days and Gellar stuck up for everyone on set. 

He said: ‘Sarah was always the first one to say, ‘We agreed this was a 13-hour day and it’s hour 15 — we’ve got to wrap,’ or, ‘Hey, this shot doesn’t seem safe,’ when nobody else would stick up for the cast and crew. I saw her get called a b***h, a diva, all these things that she’s not — just because she was taking the mantle of saying and doing the right thing.’

Gellar added she had ‘mellowed in her expectation of others’ due to becoming ‘burned out. ‘

The Do Revenge star, who broke her silence on Whedon in December 2022, said she will ‘never tell her full story’ about her time on the show, because ‘everybody loses’ as a result.

Her husband, fellow 90s teen idol Freddie Prinze Jr, 46, said his wife had dealt with ‘ a lot of bulls**t on the show’ without any ‘credit or real salary’ – but praised her professionalism. 

Emma Caulfield, 49, who played Anya Jenkins on the show, said there was a ‘tremendous amount of resentment and animosity [toward her] from a certain someone’ and that the star lacked support to be a leader on the show,

Gellar also revealed her daughter Charlotte, 13 is determined to follow in her parents’ footsteps and become an actor – but that she has banned the teenager from appearing onscreen until she finishes high school.

This comes after Gellar broke her silence on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer set, calling it ‘extremely toxic’.

The actress landed the title role in the hit 1990s sci-fi series early on in her career, claimed women were ‘pitted against each other’ in those days and female friendships were discouraged because they were too ‘powerful’.

It comes more than a year after her co-star Charisma Carpenter accused show creator Joss Whedon of ‘hostile and toxic behaviour’ on the set. 

 Sarah said: ‘For so long, I was on a set that I think was known for being an extremely toxic male set.

‘And so that was ingrained in my head that that was what all sets were like, and that women were pitted against each other — that if women became friends, then we became too powerful, so you had to keep that down.’

The Cruel Intentions star went on to explain she has had the chance to work with other women as her career has progressed and has had an ‘easier’ time but claimed the world is still in a place where it needs women in jobs instead of men so that they can develop their own voice.

She told The Wrap: ‘Now that I’ve had this opportunity to work with so many more women and men that support women as well, I realised how easy an experience it can be, but… unfortunately we’re still in that place where all of those departments a lot of times need to be women for us to have a voice.’

MailOnline  contacted Joss Whedon’s representatives for comment at the time.  

Sarah previously spoke out in support of her former co-star Charisma, who made allegations against the show creator. 

Sarah – who played Buffy from 1997 to 2003 – posted on Instagram: ‘While I am proud to have my name associated with Buffy Summers, I don’t want to be forever associated with the name Joss Whedon.

‘I am more focused on raising my family and surviving a pandemic currently, so I will not be making any further statements at this time.

‘But I stand with all survivors of abuse and am proud of them for speaking out.’

In her original social media post, Charisma accused Whedon of ‘abusing his power’ as the show’s creator and executive producer.

She wrote: ‘Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel.

‘While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively. (sic)”

In her original social media post, Charisma accused Whedon of ‘abusing his power’ as the show’s creator and executive producer.

She wrote: ‘Joss Whedon abused his power on numerous occasions while working together on the sets of Buffy The Vampire Slayer and Angel.

‘While he found his misconduct amusing, it only served to intensify my performance anxiety, disempower me, and alienate me from my peers. The disturbing incidents triggered a chronic physical condition from which I still suffer. It is with a beating, heavy heart that I say I coped in isolation and, at times, destructively. (sic)”