I don’t really like to publicly talk about fandom stuff like this very often, but seeing as I am Black, and after seeing some people’s reactions to the whole situation with Micheal Kovach and Ashley Nichols, I feel at least a little compelled to add my two cents to the whole situation
Let me preface this by saying that I am absolutely not a representative of every Black person in the fandom. I’m just one guy with an opinion on this, and me having a different view on this compared to another Black person shouldn’t invalidate their opinion, nor does their opinion invalidate mine.
yeah, the whole “Nega sounds like the n-word” joke was indeed not that funny. It was a pretty lame joke and probably not one white people should be making all willy nilly, but it’s honestly pretty tame compared to other edgy jokes? Like, this isn’t even the first “Nega sounds like the n-word” joke I’ve ever seen, and I don’t see people getting up in arms over Eggman Nega or whatever. Honestly the clip was more second-hand embarrassing for me to watch than actively upsetting.
I think Micheal and Ashley’s apologies were both serviceable enough, obviously it doesn’t absolve them, but it does seem like they’ve grown and changed and aren’t making racist jokes anymore. I can’t say for sure because I don’t really pay that much attention to what they get up to outside of TADC, but like, they seem normal to me.
I think ultimately, it’s up to you personally if this whole thing makes you not want to support or engage with the show anymore, and I’d understand either way. Black people absolutely have every right to be upset by this, and if they don’t feel good about engaging with TADC anymore, that’s completely fine, and they’re allowed to do what they want. Similarly, if someone does still want to watch the show, that’s completely fine as well. Just don’t harass anyone over what they decide to do (And also don’t harass the VAs or anyone else who works on the show, you can criticize people’s actions while being normal about it)
I am a bit concerned about how intense some people are getting about the whole thing though, some of y’all are saying some crazy shit over this
I won’t go into specifics, but sheesh, some of it is kind of embarrassing…
Like I said, you are allowed to be upset by this, especially if you are Black, but some of the reactions I’ve seen over this just scream “chronically online” to me
There are more serious things going on than “two white voice actors made a tasteless joke in a Jackbox livestream 7 years ago.” Like objectively, there are more serious things to be mad at than this, at some point you are just kind of wasting your energy
Overall, just do whatever you feel is right for this situation, you are allowed to feel upset by this, but also don’t harass people over it. Be civil, please.