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Feb. 26th, 2018 01:49 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pearwaldorfI'm having some feelings about some shit going on in a particular fandom of mine.
Background: somebody found a super cringey video Sam Riegel did in 2010 where he dressed up in blackface. It's... yeah. It's my understanding that will.i.am tapped him for this thing for FunnyorDie, not that it makes it any less acceptable, but it does make things more weird and awkward. I'm not privy to the circumstances in which Sam decided this was a thing he should do, but I'm pretty fucking disappointed. Every time I think about it I feel sad and faintly ill. Somebody in the replies of that post said he briefly addresses it in an episode of Talks Machina, but doesn't mention which one. If somebody knows, I'm happy to make a clip and post it on Tumblr.
I have no issue with people bringing this up, but it seems kind of ehhhh to get Liam involved too. As much as it sounds like I'm making excuses (and maybe I am; I'm not interrogating this particularly deeply), I'm betting this thing has become decontextualized into a dumbshit thing my best friend did once, that's why it's my ringtone for him haha isn't it funny? idk. A lot of things we do take on a whole different context when we view them through an explicitly public lens, as opposed to the limited reach a regular person normally has with their social media.
As much as I think this is a serious thing that Sam should address publicly, it feels like people have been waiting to jump on the cast for a while. Somebody kept messaging cobaltbeau (née teammompike) on Tumblr about Marisha basing the Ashari on the tribes in Avatar and wasn't it kind of ~problematic~ because the Airbenders were based on Tibet? Because apparently the notion of elementally-based magic users is absolutely unique and this particular iteration was not created by a couple white dudes. I am trying to assume good faith, but the way these things were worded it felt like somebody was trying to pick a fight.
And people are going on about how Matt might have done some problematic stuff in the past (unless somebody has found a sekrit cache of badness the worst thing I can think of is that he was a dumbass weeb in his youth, like many other people. This is why I also feel like when you get to a certain level of internet famous you should be able to purge your mildly embarrassing shit.) and saying things like "I always had a feeling" (re: Liam and Sam) and it just feels really not good. I fully recognize that I am feeling protective of my faves, but I also want to point out that eight years is a long damn time. I am certainly not the same person I was eight years ago, and I'm sure Sam isn't either.
Anyways. We'll see what he has to say, and I hope we can move on from this and go back to loving the show.
[edit:] Sam has addressed the issue in a post on the CR Reddit, and I'm glad. Liam has sort of tagged along.
Background: somebody found a super cringey video Sam Riegel did in 2010 where he dressed up in blackface. It's... yeah. It's my understanding that will.i.am tapped him for this thing for FunnyorDie, not that it makes it any less acceptable, but it does make things more weird and awkward. I'm not privy to the circumstances in which Sam decided this was a thing he should do, but I'm pretty fucking disappointed. Every time I think about it I feel sad and faintly ill. Somebody in the replies of that post said he briefly addresses it in an episode of Talks Machina, but doesn't mention which one. If somebody knows, I'm happy to make a clip and post it on Tumblr.
I have no issue with people bringing this up, but it seems kind of ehhhh to get Liam involved too. As much as it sounds like I'm making excuses (and maybe I am; I'm not interrogating this particularly deeply), I'm betting this thing has become decontextualized into a dumbshit thing my best friend did once, that's why it's my ringtone for him haha isn't it funny? idk. A lot of things we do take on a whole different context when we view them through an explicitly public lens, as opposed to the limited reach a regular person normally has with their social media.
As much as I think this is a serious thing that Sam should address publicly, it feels like people have been waiting to jump on the cast for a while. Somebody kept messaging cobaltbeau (née teammompike) on Tumblr about Marisha basing the Ashari on the tribes in Avatar and wasn't it kind of ~problematic~ because the Airbenders were based on Tibet? Because apparently the notion of elementally-based magic users is absolutely unique and this particular iteration was not created by a couple white dudes. I am trying to assume good faith, but the way these things were worded it felt like somebody was trying to pick a fight.
And people are going on about how Matt might have done some problematic stuff in the past (unless somebody has found a sekrit cache of badness the worst thing I can think of is that he was a dumbass weeb in his youth, like many other people. This is why I also feel like when you get to a certain level of internet famous you should be able to purge your mildly embarrassing shit.) and saying things like "I always had a feeling" (re: Liam and Sam) and it just feels really not good. I fully recognize that I am feeling protective of my faves, but I also want to point out that eight years is a long damn time. I am certainly not the same person I was eight years ago, and I'm sure Sam isn't either.
Anyways. We'll see what he has to say, and I hope we can move on from this and go back to loving the show.
[edit:] Sam has addressed the issue in a post on the CR Reddit, and I'm glad. Liam has sort of tagged along.
no subject
Date: 2018-02-27 10:33 pm (UTC)What is yashasgf expected to do about any of that ?