She-Ra And The Princesses of Power Creator Noelle Stevenson Issues Apology After Being Accused of Bigotry
She-Ra and the Princesses of Power creator and Showrunner Noelle Stevenson has apologized to the show’s fandom.
Stevenson apologized after fans took numerous statements made during a live-stream appearance out-of-context and accused her and the show’s production staff of bigotry.
On August 27th, Stevenson, alongside various other members of the She-Ra and The Princesses of Power production team, made an appearance on a live-stream hosted by the She-Ra: Progressive of Power podcast.
During the live-stream, the crew discussed various aspects of the series’ production and answered fan-submitted questions.
Following the conclusion of the live-stream, Twitter user @mitchezy, in a now-deleted tweet, published a “Summary of the She Ra Stream Tonight.” In it, they accused Stevenson and the crew of “ableism, homophobia, [and] racism.”
Mitchiezy claimed that a “male staff member said the D slur, staff made jokes about Bow’s family and slavery, staff said Double Trouble is creepy with kids,” and that “staff said Entrapta and Hordak are good disabled representation.”
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However, as explained by Twitter user @ArchineerLock, @mitchezy’s accusations appear to be a more inflammatory and intentionally misleading portrayal of the events that took place during the live-stream.
The “D slur” was said by She-Ra: Progressive of Power host Eric Garneau. Not as an insult, but simply “in reference to the podcast one of their moderators run” titled Desperate Housedykes:
Eric Garneau uses the d-slur in reference to the podcast one of their moderators run pic.twitter.com/59OeLO8C6h
— dddan (@ArchineerLock) August 27, 2020
Fans believed that the use of the name “Sow” for one of Bow’s ambiguously non-white brothers was a dehumanizing reference to slavery. Though in actuality, Stevenson had made a joke about Bow’s family having a rhyming name scheme.
PLEASE RT
Here is a clip of Bow’s brother names and the joke about “Sow.” Noelle primarily explains that all the brothers would have names rhyming with Bow. pic.twitter.com/GTrduo32H5
— dddan (@ArchineerLock) August 27, 2020
Furthermore, there has been a recent social push to focus on the tenuous association common words may have with racist connotations. Outlets such as Wikipedia, CNN, and ABC News, have been creating lists of terms they claim have racist connotations like “master bedroom,” or The Masters Tournament, and “peanut gallery.”
Interestingly enough, the word “sow” is not listed on their respective running lists of phrases they claim have racist connotations.
Contrary to Mitchiezy’s claim, no reference was made to the non-binary shapeshifter Double Trouble being “creepy with kids.” In the stream, Stevenson was actually discussing her questioning of voice actor Jacob Tobias’ ability to pull off the characters “really dark, sinister side.”
The crew talk about double trouble at the 30 min mark https://t.co/o3Y9VEXh8F
— dddan (@ArchineerLock) August 27, 2020
Finally, Entrapta and Hordrak were referred to as “good disabled representation” not by the show’s crew, but by a fan in a letter submitted to the show:
PLEASE RT
Here is the clip of a fan in an email calling Entrapta and Hordak some of the best representation they ever saw. You can find Noelle’s comment on the fan’s email at the 39 minute mark in the panel on Twitch. pic.twitter.com/Frvvx2c3Kx
— dddan (@ArchineerLock) August 27, 2020
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Despite her innocence, Stevenson still felt compelled to apologize to her fans through her personal Twitter account.
Saying, “I made a very careless statement in today’s stream that hurt a lot of Black fans and fans of color,” Stevenson said. “The implications did not occur to me and that lapse in judgment is fully, 100% on me.”
She would go on to admit that she had “failed” in “creating a safe and positive space for fans” and announced that she would “be rededicating myself to examining my language and behavior so this failure will never be repeated.”
Stevenson concluded her attempt at penance by informing “white and nonblack fans” that she did “not need defending” and asked them to “not harass or add emotional labor to those hurt by this.”
In a further explanation of her joke towards the humorous naming convention of Bow’s family, Stevenson provided a sketch of his family that emphasized the light-hearted nature of the joke.
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Unsurprisingly, the truth behind Stevenson’s statement and her apology were deemed unsatisfactory by the She-Ra and The Princesses of Power fandom. They went on and continued to condemn Stevenson for her perceived infractions.
The She-Ra staff didn’t just make a mistake,” asserted user @Inspector Nerd, “They let their mask slip.”
Many fans, such as @kaisasimp, demanded that the show “get more poc and disabled people on your crew.”
@AeroEmily outright dismissed Stevenson’s apology. Stating that she “had to have thought about it before you said it,” and deemed it “just unacceptable.”
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Faced with counter-evidence to their accusations, @mitchiezy would delete their original accusation and admit that, “I posted was my interpretation of the events that occurred in the She Ra livestream, but i did not stop to think that i should have been more objective rather than subjective.”
What’s your take on this situation with She-Ra?
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