‘Robyn Hood’ Director Melts Down Over Series’ Negative Reception, Claims Show Is Being Review Bombed By “Racists”
Spencer Baculi
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Apparently unable to accept that his ‘modern reimagining’ of the arrow-slinging outlaw may only appeal to a very, very small niche of audiences, Robyn Hood Julien Christian Lutz has lashed out at critics of his new series, accusing them of being not just “angry nerds”, but also outright racists.
Julien Christian “Director X” Lutz talks about his process creating Robyn Hood (2023), Global TV
Created by Lutz, otherwise known by his alias Director X, and featuring a story by Orphan Black story coordinator Chris Roberts, the eight-episode “near-fi-action drama” is described by its host network, Canada’s Global Television Network, as a “contemporary re-imagining of Robin Hood” wherein “Robyn is a fearless young woman who is not just another superhero, with abilities normal people don’t have.”
“She is a Gen Zer driven by the injustices of today who embraces the heroic, hopeful and playful elements of the world’s most recognizable folk hero,” details the series’ official synopsis. “She learns to fight for what’s right, to care for and lead her followers. And like all Robin Hoods since the first ballad, Robyn holds those in power to account by using their greed against them to help her community.”
Robyn (Jessye Romeo) draws her bow in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
“Robyn Hood follows Robyn Loxley, a young woman whose masked hip-hop band, The Hood, is known for their inventive videos and anti-authoritarian message,” it adds. “She lives in Sherwood Towers, a cluster of rental high-rises in a working-class corner of New Nottingham, a near-fi city where the cost of living has skyrocketed, leaving an ever-widening gap between the rich and everyone else.”
“When Robyn finds herself fighting for her home and her family against local property developer John Prince and The Sheriff of New Nottingham, Robyn and her band The Hood decide to fight back, righting the wrongs of the corrupt elite to give back to the people who are living under their regime,” the network concludes.
The Sheriff (Kira Guloien) calls out The Hood in Robyn Hood (2023), Global TV
Making its television debut on September 27th, rather than the praise and adulation Lutz was no doubt expecting, the series was met with a less-than-favorable reception.
Per roughly 1,600 user ratings given to IMDB as of writing, who is currently the only site with user-reviews to list the series, 1,300 of those audience members left the series with an outright ‘1/10’.
Conversely, 81 rated the series a ‘2/10’, 38 found themselves somewhere in the middle, and 121 considered Robyn Hood to be a perfect ’10/10′.
The IMDB user reviews for Robyn Hood as of October 5th, 2023
Met with this huge disparity in review scores, Lutz took to his personal Twitter account on October 3rd to decry, “#ROBYNHOOD is getting one stars from countries where the show doesn’t air or stream. ”
“This is what y’all on?” he questioned. “Review bomb IMDB for a show you haven’t seen? Disappointed in y’all. A real mask off moment. Y’all looking like real goofs. ROBYN HOOD WED 10PM @GLOBALTV & @STACKTV.”
In fairness to Lutz, given human nature and the workings of the internet, it’s admittedly certain that a number of Robyn Hood‘s 1-star critics did not watch the series and only sought to sink its reputation for any number of reasons – including, unfortunately, racism.
Archive Link Julien Christen Lutz via Twitter
However, the same could be said of the series’ 121 10-star reviews: Rather than Robyn Hood being one of the greatest television experiences of all time, it’s more likely that while some viewers truly enjoyed the show that much (everyone has their own tastes), its supporters also sought to conversely boost the series’ profile (with some undoubtedly seeing their positive rating as an act of political activism).
Further, it should be noted that though the series is currently region-locked to the Great White North, these international ratings may be the result of audiences using a VPN to watch the show – a workaround which was itself heavily promoted by Lutz in the lead-up to Robyn Hood’s release.
Asked by a fan back on September 27th if the series had “an American broadcaster yet,” the director of Drake’s Hotline Bling music video asserted, “Not yet. It’s VPN time!”
Archive Link Julien Christen Lutz via Twitter
Faced with a number of Twitter users recalling his previous tip, Lutz exclaimed, “You’ve all arrived! I love how these folks see an obvious review bomb and say VPN! Y’all really play stupid.”
Archive Link Julien Christen Lutz via Twitter
This deflection would then draw a response from YouTuber Ryan Kinel, who likewise pointed to Lutz’s VPN recommendation and explained, “You literally told people to use a VPN to watch it internationally a few days ago lol, now you’re acting like it’s a wild thing to suggest. I know this is hard to imagine, but maybe people don’t like the show.”
Archive Link Ryan Kinel via Twitter
“Ok bud,” Director X fired back. “It’s an obvious bombing. Even if these people’s actually watched the show. You all act like what is in front of our face isn’t happening.”
Archive Link Julien Christen Lutz via Twitter
Still adamant that these negative ratings were solely the result of review bombing, Lutz would later share a video to his personal TikTok wherein he not only reiterated his claim, but also escalated his rhetoric by accusing the series’ critics of being little more than stereotypical racists.
“So, my show Robyn Hood is getting rating bombed,” began Lutz. “1.6 out of 10. Why would someone do that? It’s just some TV show. Well, being that Robin is actually a black woman this time, the angry nerd community is very upset. In fact from the moment it was announced, these guys lost their minds.”
@directorx These goofs have been rating bombing Robyn Hood’s imdb page. From the day we announced the show these guys where making youtube videos and tweeting about it. They were big mad. A black woman Robin Hood!?! Now the show is out and they playing games with the rating system in imdb. Wack. Anyways #RobynHood Wednesdays 10pm est on @Global TV and streaming on @STACKTV
From there, the director proceeded to criticize a number of YouTube videos covering his series, taking issue with everything from their thumbnails, to their titles, to their country of origin.
First pointing to an upload from the aforementioned Kinel titled ‘Race And Gender Swapped ‘Robyn Hood’ Looks Like A CRINGE Woke DISASTER‘, Lutz noted, “So this is just when we said we’re releasing it. What the f–k is this? Race and gender swapped. Woke disaster.”
Turning to Mr. H Review’s ‘Robin Hood Remake Looks Different‘, the director next mocked, “Ha Ha. Guess what, he doesn’t like that she’s a black woman either.”
Robyn (Jessye Romeo) shoots a music video in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
Next up was The Common Nerd’s ‘‘Robin Rood’ Remake Will FAIL! ‘Robyn Hood‘ New Series DESTROYS Timeless Classic‘ and Hypnotic’s ‘GET WOKE GO BROKE! Robyn Hood GETS RACE SWAPPED And Turned Into Stereotypical Black Character!“, though only the latter of these videos received specific commentary from Lutz.
Directing his attentions to the thumbnail given to the latter video by Hypnotic, the director criticized, “‘Robyn Hood gets blacked!’. Look at [this stock photo of a man] laughing. So funny.”
Highlighting Pop Culture Crisis’ “Production Begins on ‘Robyn Hood‘ Show That Reimagines Character as Gen Z Hip-Hop Band Member“, Lutz confused the channel’s name with the videos title and declared, “Alright, just when we start production, they were talking about it one year ago, they were at us. Pop culture CRISIS! It’s a crisis! That we’re doing Robyn Hood.”
The series’ signature subtlety is on display in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
“When did this person put this up?” he then rhetorically asked of Broken World Entertainment’s ‘Robyn Hood….Oh Boy‘ “A month ago, so this is just when we said that it’s coming out.”
“They’re worldwide, these guys are going in,” said Lutz, now taking issue with Planet Arcadia’s ‘ROBYN HOOD / Ahora es una MUJER NEGRA / Más Basura Progre Woke‘ and MakeBetterFilms’ ‘Schlimmer als Schneewittchen und Disney? Robyn Hood Serie (2023)‘
Offering a disingeunous impression of these YouTubers, the director then mocked, “‘A black woman is going to be Robin Hood! It’s going to be horrible. How could black kids do Robin Hood?'”
Robyn (Jessye Romeo) takes aim in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
“And these guys tell you they’re not racist,” Lutz stated. “I’ve watched a lot of these guys. I subscribe to a few of these guys. They’re adamant they’re not racists. Swear up and down they’re not racists. Say we’re the ones making everything about race.”
Drawing attention to GabbaGandalfTV’s ‘ Die wokeste Neuauflage von allen: Robin Hood‘, he asserted, “This guy put a black wizard with fried chicken and a gold necklace. But they’re not racist. They’re not racist.”
Director X details The Hood’s masks in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
Pulling up a tweet from Gary “Nerdrotic” Buechler in which he shared a video replacing Robyn Hood‘s intro sequence with footage of largely black individuals using the recent Philadelphia protests over the clearing of officer Mark Dial in the shooting death of Eddie Irizarry as an excuse to loot local liquor scores, Lutz then invited his viewers to “Watch this.”
“This was a cute one, right?” he asked.
Alternate opening for Robyn Hood#RobynHoodSeries pic.twitter.com/wGAwHUdIDe
— Nerdrotic (@Nerdrotics) September 30, 2023
Quickly scrolling through a few random tweets which spoke negatively of Robyn Hood, Lutz finally turned back to IMDB, explaining, “So when you go to IMDB to look at user ratings, I have almost 158 people giving it a one star. 68%. 22 people up here? 10 stars.”
“Look, when I go by country,” he continued. “Canada. It’s still 15 for the 10s. There’s a real gap in between.”
“US. Remember, the show is not released in the States,” said Lutz, again seemingly forgetting his own recommendation that interested viewers use a VPN. “United Kingdom. Show’s not released in the United Kingdom. Australia. Sweden.”
The Hood reveal themselves to the world in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
It was at this point in the video that Lutz’s rhetoric took a left turn, as rather than directly addressing his critics’ complaints towards Robyn Hood, he proceeded to take an unrelated and bizarre swing at their masculinity.
“And remember, these guys will tell you the type of men they are,” he said. “Real men, eh?”
“Yeah, so that’s what these guys are doing with themselves,” Lutz spiraled. “This is the time they have in their life. This is the manosphere. This is what a man does.”
“If you ever have the guts to talk to a girl and start a conversation, if you ever have that ability, I’m sure some of you do, would you tell her you made a user account on IMDB so you could review [Robyn Hood],” he condescendingly taunted. “Is that a thing you would do to get your head in the conversation?Would you tell her that? You’re a man right? You’re a man king.”
The Hood makes their escape in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
Drawing his rant to a close, Lutz declared, “So that’s what these men are dealing with. That’s what’s going on. That’s why I’ll let my haters [know] Robyn Hood, Wednesdays on Global, 10pm Eastern after Survivor and Ghosts. Tune in this Wednesday, episode two’s up, go back and watch episode one if you ain’t seen it, cuz you need to know episode one to see episode two.”
“And we just can’t mind these youth bro,” he concluded his video. “What’re you gonna do? It’s a goof thing, bro. F–king goofs.”
Robyn (Jessye Romeo) prepares to strike from the shadows in Robyn Hood (2023) Global TV
Returning to the topic the next day via Twitter, Lutz ultimately shot back, “My comments are filled with ppl saying my show isn’t getting review bombed as they pile in to every social media platform to talk sh*t. But I’m sure IMDB is sacred ground where y’all would never act as you do here IG or TT. Y’all really think ppl can’t see what happening?”
Archive Link Julien Christen Lutz via Twitter
[Editor’s Note: A previous version of this article misidentified Hypnotic as a black male.]
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