I think it comes from something James Marsters related after shit really hit the fan about Whedon (I think 2023). He talked about an incident of Whedon physically bullying him, and said that Whedon was resentful of Spike's popularity, because it meant he couldn't do what he wanted with the character, and that the audience overlooked that Spike was evil.

Also, there are much earlier interviews with Whedon, and also Marti Noxon, iirc, where they talk about the bathroom scene, and how the intent was to have Spike do something truly terrible, to make it click that Spike is evil, and that it's *necessary* for Spike to get a soul.

So people put that together and interpret it as "Seeing Red" being revenge against Spike's popularity.

Like I said elsewhere, though, if you watch interviews, a lot of the writers, notably Noxon (who was showrunner s6 and 7), adore Spike. And Whedon has said lots of favorable things about him as well, including that he ships Spuffy. I'm not saying that the incident James Marsters related didn't happen, not at all, it seems completely in line with what we know about Whedon. It's just that when you take what writers have actually said into account AND ALSO, vitally, Spike's complete narrative arc -- he gets a redemption, he's the love interest, he saves the world -- it seems like Whedon wasn't character assassinating him, rather he was making him into something that would work with his vision. And he did that by getting him to hit rock bottom so that he could then redeem him. I don’t think Whedon tried to character assassinate Spike, I think it didn’t occur to him that the AR *would* character assassinate him. There's interviews with Marti Noxon that back this up, she says she thought that they ultimately could bring him back from this.

I mean compare that to a character he did pretty much assassinate, Cordelia, who got turned evil and then written off the show. That's character assassination.

Aw, thank you! Happy to entertain!!