So, as a black person, I don’t accept the apology that the cast of TADC put out.
I’m not really sure what it means in the grand scheme of things. They made a post and called it a day.
For the sake of this argument, I’m going to say some words that I would not use in any other context. Those are just pixels on a screen. It has no weight on the real world, there was no gesture or action to follow their apology. Their actions helped foster an environment for racism and antiblackness to fester both in online and real world spaces. Therefore, the posted tweets are not equivalent exchange. What we’re supposed to accept, is a promise, that also means nothing to me.
Sometimes I see people post things along the lines of “this thing is great but i question why they engage in ‘questionable/problematic/exclusionist behavior’” and it baffles me. Is that not a dealbreaker. Does the concept that these people won’t think to consider you until you pull their teeth not bother you? It bothers me.
The apology means nothing because all it is right now is an “I’m sorry”.
I do believe they’re racist.
I do believe they’re still bad people.
They made a piss poor joke 7 years ago as grown ass adults. Then they all collaborated on a show that treated its WOC characters as expendable. Then, the creator of the show doubled down to say that she does enjoy making edgy jokes and she sees no issue with it because apparently we all do it. What exactly changed? What progress was won here? Because it’s looking like they’re all still the same people they were 7 years ago, and now they’re just quieter about it. Or…if I were really playing Devil’s Advocate, the VAs are now better people but their friend/coworker/boss is still racist in which case they’re pathetic for continued association.
When we talk about progress, it’s important to understand that the absence of a bad thing is not a good thing. If they felt comfortable making those jokes, and now seem to have acknowledged that this was harmful towards the black community, then what actions are they taking to amend that? You stabbed me and you pulled out the knife. Congrats. There’s still a gaping wound that is your responsibility to fix. Even if you never stabbed me again, I still can’t trust you. I can’t know that you regretted hurting me, or you regretted being caught. The actions moving forward would confirm these intentions.
And honestly, I’m also not fucking with Glitch studios as a whole either. They could be cracking down on this harder, but instead they’re still focused on the theatrical release that no one asked for, because they’re going to try and make a profit regardless.
Some people are saying it isn’t Glitch’s bad intentions because of the Knights of Guinevere show they’re producing. How could they be racist when their voice cast is so diverse? Ah yes. Still can’t let go of their golden boy Michael Kovach, but now we get Michaela Laws. You know? The woman that worked with YanDev for over a decade to voice the main character of his racist pedo fetish game. Refer back to my older posts to see how I feel about that.
“But she’s better now!! She’s not doing-“ Because the absence of a bad thing is a good right?
Cool.
Can’t wait to see that show blow over in another year when people want to rediscover that the same problematic people are actually still problematic, and a “pls forgive me, i was only 23teen” tweet is a band-aid slapped over a cracked window.
Anyways, I don’t accept the apology. I don’t think they’ve changed. I don’t think that they’re trying to change, so much as they’re trying to avoid ruining their promotion. I don’t like that as a black person in these situations, my forgiveness is something that is constantly asked and demanded of me so other people can feel comfortable.
Forgiveness should be earned.
