Disclaimer: I have nothing to be jealous of when I deleted my instagram account months ago, but I am genuinely upset at the situation. The fandom (and Cassie) deserves to know the truth.
If you’ve read Cassie’s newsletter this morning (or yesterday, depending on time), then you know she’s started her promotional project for Chain of Iron, called The Letter Game. I won’t go into too much detail because the premise of the idea isn’t what’s important– it’s about who is involved.
I’m nervous to talk about this but this has to be talked about. For Thursday, tsc.updates on instagram is doing one of the promotional pieces. But if you know who runs the account, then you might know they’re also the person who ran shadowsconfess. And if you were around when that account existed, then you know there was a lot (and I mean A LOT) of controversy that steamed from almost every confession post made.
When shadowsconfess was a thing, there was a lot of discourse surrounding the controversial things that were shared. One of the biggest things was their hate for Jem, and from that came a lot of people who sought out shadowsconfess as their gateway to be hateful and bigoted towards Jem (and many other characters, specifically POC). Now, I am not saying someone isn’t allowed to dislike a character, everyone is entitled to their opinions, but what I am saying is that shadowsconfess didn’t check those hateful confessions, like the racist ones, or the sexist ones, and it honestly played such a huge role in ruining the fandom and community. Arguments were happening left and right, and it was hard to remain neutral especially when it came to differing opinions (especially about Will, it was considered awful if you disliked him).
Here is an example of what I mean by allowing bigoted confessions (coloring out usernames for obvious reasons):
Overtime, shadowsconfess would post other opinions of theirs, specifically about their heavy dislike of Cassandra Clare. One of their biggest things was how they hated her, how they were a firm believer of separating the art from the artist. Which is fine, but given the fact that they’re currently working with CC… make it make sense. Shit doesn’t add up.
They were also known for having the scoop on what CC feels towards her characters, such as her disliking Will (prob because of the CP2 epilogue and jessa being canon in the future books). Going back to the hate on Jem, they has a history of disliking POC characters. Like Maia and Alastair, the former reminding her of someone (same argument made against Jem) and the latter being because he’s a bully and not wanting redemption for him. Like I said, it’s okay to dislike a character but this is a pattern. A racist/prejudiced one.
There’s also this on their tumblr where they try and compare Alastair’s suffering from racism (he is half-Persian) to his bullying of James Herondale having demon blood in his veins as to being the same thing. Idk what to make of it, but it’s fucking weird. I’m sorry, but that’s not the same thing. Not at all.
When they deleted shadowsconfess and made tsc.updates, they kept their tellonym. And here they went along with others making fun of Cassandra Clare’s appearance, where they berated Alastair’s character, etc.
There have been other instances where they have been awful, such as comparing Cassie to h*tler and jumping on the bandwagon of hating her because of the incest plotline in TMI. Many people I know have gotten into an argument with her and/or their friends over these issues, and for the most part we’ve asked that a lot of this hate and negativity to stop. But there has been a bruise left on the TSC fandom because of things like this, and now CC has her promoting Chain of Iron, which leads into this point:
I am not making this post to be spiteful, or to “re-hash old feuds,” but instead I am pointing out how unfair it is that someone who claims to hate Cassandra Clare and has caused a lot of damage to this fanbase gets to work with her. There are plenty of fans who would die to have been part of this project, and unfortunately this has turned into one of those things that happens when someone doesn’t research a person they collaborate with. There are a bunch of other things that have been said and done but I know I can’t bring them up without proper proof, but I hope what I have shown here is enough.
I have been wanting to talk about this since I read CC’s newsletter this morning, but I am nervous to post this due to the way I’ve been treated when calling tsc.updates/shadowsconfess out on their bs in the past. I don’t care that they don’t post confessions anymore, but point still stands that there has been harm done. And on an obvious note, don’t send hate to them. Instead hold them accountable for their actions. Because that’s what this post is for.
So Cassie, if you read this, please reconsider working with them in the future.
