It is now official: The recently-announced cast list for Wednesday season 2 does not include Percy Hynes White. And, it may be the case that no one will fill in the role, thus writing off the character of Xavier Thrope from the series despite the character’s part in the narrative suggesting Xavier had more story to explore.
If the allegations against White are true – and there are plenty – his removal from the cast cannot be helped. Take it from me, I was personally quite taken by Xavier’s psychic, reserved, and tortured artist character archetype, more so than with the clearly too-nice-not-to-raise-red-flags Tyler, but that’s no excuse to instinctively discredit any potential veracity of White’s alleged condemnable past deeds without daring to dig deeper.
These sorts of allegations are not to be taken lightly, and while the original posts from the alleged victims and witnesses are now gone, it may well have been due to legal reasons or threats from overzealous fans who cannot seem to help but take the side of the celebrity they like, even without knowing them personally to be able to legitimately vouch for their character.
So, what were these accusations that led to Netflix dropping the 22-year-old Canadian actor from the popular series?
Alleged systematic predatory behavior
A girl going by “Aries” as her Twitter username was the one to blow the whistle on the alleged inexcusable behavior Percy Hynes White enacted during high school. Message screenshots paint an elaborate, detailed, and damning description of the kind of predatory, misogynistic behavior of which the actor is accused. Not only that, but Aries also attached message chats featuring inappropriate photos of someone who clearly looks like White. Some of these were allegedly sent to minors.
The allegations claim that, while he was a teenager in Toronto, White mistreated girls, both girlfriends and the girls who rejected him, being said to resort to insults and body shaming. He and his group of friends are accused of hosting parties and getting girls so inebriated they were unable to consent to sexual advances, having been ultimately assaulted. One girl alleged the to-be actor watched her assault from the sidelines. When this situation happened, White called the girl in question and was allegedly more concerned with not having law enforcement involved. If this situation could not get any worse, White is also said to have taken non-consensual sexual pictures of girls, and even shared them online.
Instagram screenshots seem to suggest White seemingly corroborating at least part of the allegations by conceding that what he had done was “a complete scumbag thing to do,” claiming that now that he is an adult, he knows better. Some people pointed to a video of White touching Jenna Ortega’s chest during a red carpet appearance to argue that his behavior had not really changed by the time he became a star on the Netflix series.
On top of all of these damning accusations, old tweets are said to have surfaced – these are now gone – of White using slurs and other inappropriate words.
As a result of this firestorm of allegations and people coming forward, and after a period of silence, White came forward to say the rumors were untrue. Variety quoted him as writing:
“Earlier this year, somebody I’ve never met started a campaign of misinformation about me online. Because of this, my family has been doxxed, and my friends have received death threats. Underage photos of me were used, and examples of me acting in character were presented as hateful. My friend Jane was falsely portrayed as a victim, and her attempts to set the record straight have been ignored. She gave me permission to include her in this message. […] The rumors are false. I can’t accept the portrayal of me as someone bigoted, or criminally negligent of people’s safety. These are the kind of baseless, harmful claims that can create mistrust toward victims. It’s very distressing to know that this misinformation has upset people. I’m really thankful for everyone who’s stood by me and helped share the facts. Harassment of my family, friends and coworkers needs to stop please. Thank you for taking the time to read this.”
In this kind of he-said/she-said conundrum, there is often no easy way to get tangible evidence that will satisfy some. But for those who think so in regards to the former Wednesday actor, this is not even a she-said/he-said, in this case, many people pointed the finger and Percy Hynes White replied saying it was nothing but a “campaign of misinformation.”