If you are unfamiliar with the 100 and its controversy - we recommend you start here for a little background information before delving into the timeline of events listed below.
Following the events of episode 307 of The 100, the outcry from the LGBT+ viewers of the show has been angry, focused, and loud. The main purpose of this site? To give readers a sense of the source of the anger from fans. It’s not just about a character death. It’s not just about a “ship.”
The problem LGBT+ viewers have with the show is the blatant, callous manipulation we experienced at the hands of the creators, for over ten months.
Marketing, social media interaction, and promotion are, obviously, essential for TV, especially on a smaller network like The CW. When a large chunk of your audience is of a younger demographic, social media promotion is an innovative and helpful—and most importantly, free—tool for the industry. The powers that be need eyes on screens, they need buzz for the show, in order to keep producing content. No one is criticizing the writers/producers/creators of this content for using social media and interacting with fans, or promoting the popular aspects of the show, in order to pull in more viewers. That’s a necessary marketing move, and it always has been.
But there should always be lines that shouldn’t be crossed.
The creative minds of The 100 realized that LGBT+ viewers were a powerful, loud group, with a strong social media presence. Naturally, they wanted to tap into that presence. As you will be able to follow on the site, over the course of ten months of hiatus, LGBT+ viewers were courted, reassured, engaged with, supported. LGBT+ viewers brought up their fears; those fears were assuaged multiple times. Straight writers went into a lesbian fan board (a safe place specifically for lesbian viewers to interact with one another) to do the same, quell fears and engage with fans. The 100 created an environment of safety, of progressive storytelling—it gave fans hope. It gave young queer individuals something to believe in, something to see themselves in and feel comfortable and included. In turn, LGBT+ fans trumpeted the wonderful new show they had found.
And then it ripped the rug out.
There are storyline criticisms to be made, certainly, but we are not making them here. Instead, we are specifically addressing the fact that a vulnerable minority group was used for promotion, for ratings, for numbers, and then discarded. Marketing centers on finding focus groups and finding ways to appeal to them specifically, as The 100 did, but there are responsibilities that come along with using queer youth for promotion and marketing. The 100 ignored those social responsibilities and ignored the effect that their actions would have on the group it used for promotion. That action alone straddles the line between ethical and unethical media presentation, but the complete lack of action in the wake of 307 has pushed it over the line into unethical territory.
LGBT+ viewers of the show were catered to, reassured, protected, and encouraged to watch and share by people in positions of power over them. And when it came down to it, the creators who had spent so much time building up this group revealed their callousness and lack of social awareness and responsibility they had so prided themselves on for months beforehand.
Let this be a lesson to creators everywhere: if you are going to engage with and represent minority groups of which you are not a part, you have a responsibility to understand your actions and the effect they have on the minority groups you claim to represent. Don’t undertake responsibilities which you have no intention of seeing through.
From the outset, the introduction of Lexa’s character and the subtle, perfect in-show reveal of her sexuality had heads turning. This is a show praised for it’s strong female characters and subversion of tropes; introducing an LGBT character felt natural for this world. As interest in the character grew, so did her promotion from Jason and the writers over the first few episodes of the latter half of season 2. Of course, the fear was there instantly for seasoned TV viewers, but it was assuaged by the writers themselves, with them going so far as to acknowledge the damaging tropes surrounding LGBT+ characters.
If Lexa’s reveal as LGBT+ made a splash, it was nothing compared to the “leaked” shot of her kissing the lead of the show, revealing both canon romantic feelings between two female characters and the fact that the lead is bisexual. The writers immediately took to social media to decry the leaks, articles started coming out, and “Clexa” spontaneously trended world wide. The ship had sailed. Again, fears immediately surfaced concerning the fate of LGBT+ characters, but they were, again, addressed and assuaged.
When asked if the leaked clip was indeed a leak, Rothenberg wasn’t so sure.“I don’t think it was accidental, actually,” Rothenberg says. “But controversy is good, people are talking about it, so it’s okay.”
“All I would say is that context really matters. When that kiss happens and how it happens and what follows it especially is going to affect the way that people respond to it as much as the kiss itself. It’s a real kiss, certainly, we’re not trying to pull a fast one on anybody. It’s genuinely a moment, but it doesn’t mean that anything that has happened before is meaningless. It certainly doesn’t change the plan of anything going forward. And it really sets up brilliantly for what happens in the next episode, which I can’t talk about at all.”
IGN: Let me get it out of the way and ask about the Clarke/Lexa kiss. On a show where there’s less and less reason to ask about kisses, what can you say about the clip… that maybe you did not want to speak of?
Rothenberg: Well, I’m okay speaking about it. I wouldn’t have put it out as a clip. It has generated quite a lot of discussion, which can only be good for the show, I hope. I think that there’s not much to say about it other than that the context about it matters quite a bit. I tweeted about that at the time. I feel like the things that happen, that lead up to it, and the things that happen after it are just as important as the kiss itself. So obviously that’s lost in the literally eleven second thing that was put out there. But, I mean it’s genuine, for sure. They both are… It’s not like it’s not a real kiss. It’s hard for me to talk about it. It upset a lot of people and it made other people really excited.
During the airing of ‘Bodyguard Of Lies’, the writers talked extensively about Clarke and Lexa and Clarke’s newly revealed bisexuality, as well as the show’s progressive approach to sexuality and labels. This promotion continued in the days following the show, as all anyone could talk about was the big sexuality reveal. The fact that Clarke was the first lead LGBT character on a network show became a point of pride.
Notably, this episode occurred at the end of “February Sweeps.” It also had the highest viewership of the second half of the season, and was tied for the 3rdmost watched episode of the season.
“There’s no mention of sexuality or normalcy, no struggling with what this means for Clarke or Lexa’s identity or their leadership skills. Rather, the kiss is treated as a passionate bond between two individuals. It’s beautiful in its simplicity, and progressive in its refusal to qualify the kiss as anything weird or different. This is 2015, so such displays of affection shouldn’t need to be praised, but considering the lack of representation in so much of popular culture, it’s absolutely worth mentioning. This season of The 100 has done a wonderful job of handling its moral and emotional complexities with nuance, and the kiss shared by Lexa and Clarke is no different. It’s an inspiring end to one of The 100’sfinest hours of television yet.”
Clarke became the network’s first openly bisexual lead — a move that helped the drama, now in its third season, transform from a shaky midseason debut into a worldwide Twitter trending topic. “It was a huge turning point,” Taylor recalls. “The introduction of Lexa and [of] Clarke’s bisexuality definitely gained a lot of respect [from critics] for pushing boundaries, which I think is kind of ridiculous, [because] that shouldn’t be pushing boundaries in this day and age.”
Any fan of The 100 has a natural trepidation about every episode, but finales and mid-season finales especially. Knowing that Lexa is queer had her fans extra worried going into the finale, especially after the kiss with Clarke. While the writers didn’t kill Lexa in this episode, relieving a lot of fans, the result was almost as heartbreaking—but almost immediately, the writers took to social media to defend Lexa’s decision, to hint at her future with Clarke, to tease the possibility of Clexa in the future.
The annual Zimbio March Madness poll in 2015 was perhaps the first indication of the power and numbers within the very new Clexa fandom: once they had progressed through several rounds of the major poll (with the eventual champion receiving decent coverage on the popular website) Jason Rothenberg jumped in, encouraging fans to vote like crazy and promising behind the scenes pictures of the two actresses in return for victories within the poll. Clarke and Lexa progressed into the finals, ultimately falling to another f/f couple, but not after Clexa fans had amassed over 1.5 million votes.
The news had long since been out regarding Alycia Debnam-Carey’s main role on Fear The Walking Dead, which cast her future with The 100 into doubt. Still, Jason Rothenberg teased a possible return for weeks, up until Comic-Con. In front of the largest audience he had had thus far, he revealed that Alycia Debnam-Carey would be returning to the show, AND that if there was a chance for Clarke and Lexa to reconcile.
This was met with the loudest cheers of the panel, according to some, and an onslaught of articles and promotion from entertainment media regarding her return. Jason and a few of the other writers dropped plenty of hopeful quotes regarding Clarke and Lexa’s future, and capped off the event with a much anticipated picture of the two actresses, tagging it as “#Clexa”
“Little things like Lexa and Clarke’s relationship - will be our bright spots”
“Lexa’s betrayal hurt deeply. She trusted her [Clarke]. Came to very much care about her, was definitely attracted to her and that was the beginning of something I think that could’ve been really special and then Lexa did what she did, which is essentially betray her for her own people.”
The 100 managed a remarkably spoiler-free set, but that didn’t mean the writers didn’t love giving teases and hints on social media. The tweets speak for themselves: a lesson in building up fan anticipation for episodes, and specifically for one major element that was drawing new fans to the show every day: Clarke and Lexa.
Important dates:
Season 3 started filming: July 15th 307 started filming: September 25th 307 wrapped: October 5th
#ClexaForMe is a trending topic that started late in the hiatus, that encouraged fans of the show and the couple to share their stories and explain why Clarke and Lexa’s relationship provided them with solace, safety, or inspiration. The tag was filled with touching stories of LGBT+ youth explaining how ecstatic they were to have representation on television, to have something to identify with, to have such wonderful characters as Clarke and Lexa represent them.
They told stories of vulnerability and fear, and the way they found happiness in the couple. For many LGBT+ youth, media is a form of escape from a harsh real life of instability and homophobia. These stories were shared across social media, grabbing the attention of several people associated with the show who were happy to support the tag and bask in the glow that their positive representation was creating for queer youth.
Clexa For Me took place on December 22nd. At this point, Lexa’s death had been filmed more than two and a half months before this, and yet the writers were still encouraging queer youth to feel safe with the representation the show was creating for them with Clarke and Lexa.
In early August, prompted by leaked audition tapes for new season 3 characters, an ‘insider’ appeared on a popular lesbian forum with a thread dedicated to The 100, and began to interact with the fans. They identified themselves as “Your Friendly Neighborhood Lurker” and as someone who works on the show. They also identified as straight, despite the forum being a safe space for lesbian individuals to engage with one another.
“Your Friendly Neighborhood Lurker” announced that they were there for rumor control and to answer questions about canon. They also stated that they had a fondness for Clexa. They enjoyed engaging with the community on the lesbian forum and took pleasure in reading what the fans had to say about everything. While interacting with fans, they even tried to come up with ‘non-spoilery’ ways of responding to questions about the plotline.
Aug 4 2015, 02:37 AM
Sorry, just catching up (busy day at the office…)
Full disclosure: What we speculated last season when episode 209 aired has evolved slightly in the discussions for this season. It’s more like 2-3 years.
–YFNL
Aug 4 2015, 02:49 AM
I’m not Jason (yes, I know, no way to prove that.) He’s far too busy now that production has started to read forums. That’s why his tweeting has dropped off (though his asst sometimes retweets articles on his behalf).
– YFNL (Your Friendly Neighborhood Lurker) :spy:
P.S. I’m here because I enjoy reading what you all have to say. Obviously, you don’t have to censor any criticism on my account (and yes, most of you will look at me askance as a fake because…well, I would.)
Aug 4 2015, 02:51 AM
She was in L.A. today.
She looks lovely in glasses, btw.
– YFNL :spy:
Aug 4 2015, 02:55 AM
Hmmm… :hmmm:
Let me get back to you. Gotta figure out the most non-spoiler way to answer this and yet satisfy.
– YFNL :spy:
Aug 4 2015, 03:05 AM
Total oversight. No one thought to take a photo until she was gone!
(I said it was a busy day.)
Last post today. Don’t want anyone here asking questions… and it’s cool if you are skeptical. You should be. Always.
– YFNL :spy:
Aug 4 2015, 03:08 AM
(okay really, last one)
I only jumped in around page 220 of this thread. Tracking down leaks. Stayed because y'all are funny.
As far as I know, I’m the only one currently checking in here…but, if someone else does and sees my posts… let’s just say, I’m dipping in a toe and not a whole foot so as to keep my cover. Also, I in no way intend to spoil anything for anyone. I’m here for rumor control and questions about canon.
Keep on, keepin’ on, ladies…
– YFNL :spy:
One of the major points “YFNL” made, was to reassure people about something that had been posted on social media.
Alycia Debnam-Carey had stopped by The 100 office and signed a poster to Jason with the following:
“Thank you for this opportunity. Jus Drein Jus Daun.”
Many fans took this as a goodbye note to Jason, suggesting that Lexa would be dying this season.
YFNL, in their capacity as “Rumor Control,” discredited that theory, stating that there was no goodbye implied and that Alycia was simply thanking Jason.
Of course, by the time Shawna Benson stopped by the board to reassure fans and “help them sleep better at night,” she was already aware of Lexa’s death. In fact, even media members were aware of Lexa’s death at that point. Eric Goldman, of IGN, joked that Kim Shumway had accidentally spoiled Lexa’s death for him at Comic-Con, weeks before Shawna visited the thread.
Aug 4 2015, 02:43 PM
Not an official poster. I believe Jason bought it on Etsy. ADC signed it for him because he asked. No “goodbye” implied by thanking the show creator for casting her in a great role.
– YFNL
Aug 4 2015, 03:28 PM
I already said to keep an eye on TCAs.
Maybe we’ll finally get an episode total announced…
But yes, that too could be guessed by anyone. It’s logical to announce that kind of thing at the TCAs.
The problems with “verifying” who I am are two-fold:
1. If I tell you something that would clearly identify me as being part of the show, I’d blow my cover with my coworkers. 2. You will continue to consider me a fake anyway.
So, I’ll live with #2 rather than run the risk of #1. I’ll pop in from time to time when I see things are going south and you need a little sanity. Maybe I’m legit, maybe I’m not. Either way, I intend to make you sleep better at night as you wait for the show to come back. Now I’m going away for awhile, because clearly I’ve posted too much in the last 48 hours.
– YFNL
P.S. Like pretty much everyone else, I am ship-agnostic. But I have a fondness for Clexa that cannot be denied. And I’m straight, since someone asked my orientation. I’m here because you guys amuse me. And this is completely unsanctioned, hence why I can’t prove anything.
Fans felt more reassured after YFNL’s posts and presence in the forum; the confidence in Lexa’s survival rose even more when “YFNL” revealed herself to be Shawna Benson, a staff writer on The 100. She confirmed this on her twitter account.
Aug 4 2015, 07:38 PM
You guys have clearly had too many issues with this in the past, so I’ll just let it go.
Although Shawna stated that she would not be back following the August posts, a Merry Christmas message to the same lesbian forum showed differently. Shawna referenced a series of inside jokes and names from the thread, demonstrating that she had been hanging around the forum and reading posts, even possibly engaging with the community on an anonymous basis. According to the forum, for Shawna to understand the inside jokes she was making on her twitter account, she would have had to be on the thread often.
Dec 25 2015, 06:29 AM
Thank you for a great year. Love you all and sorry about all the drama.
Merry Christmas!
Regards, YFNL :spy:
(Yes, its really me. Check Twitter for validation)
This situation as a whole raises a number of questions about proper social media engagement between fans and creators. Was it wrong for fans to feel comforted when a writer on the show specifically seeks out their fan spaces and their LGBT+ spaces to reassure them about their favorite characters and relationships on the show? Should the creators really feel blindsided by the fan response when they spent time during the hiatus on lesbian-specific forums and read hundreds of posts that discussed the fans’ fears of Lexa’s death? Is lying to fans just to preserve the “shock twist” in the show really the right way to go about telling stories? Let’s discuss.
In the weeks leading up to Season 3, Lexa featured heavily in a lot of the promotional materials; she was the only guest star included along the rest of the main cast. At this point, it is safe to say that Lexa’s promotion and fan base had made her one of the most popular characters on the show, and it’s reflected in the way she was used for media promotion.
The Television Critic’s Association Press tour on January 10th was another major source of promotion before the January 21st premiere of the show. In a move surprising for Hollywood but unremarkable for The 100, the panel was comprised entirely of female actresses, including guest stars Adina Porter and Alycia Debnam Carey. The show was praised for the move, highlighting their commitment to gender equality and the promotion of strong, complex female characters, rare for TV.
During this time, The 100’s “progressive” approach to storytelling was also heavily promoted, by everyone from the writers to the head of the network. The progressive approach to sexuality was particularly highlighted multiple times by Jason Rothenberg, who was proud that it was such a non-issue on his show. It was, and has been, a constant reassurance to fans that this show would not fall into the same old traps and tropes of previous, less-progressive shows. Jason understood the importance of so many different aspects of LGBT+ portrayals in media, and made sure to let people know that.
During the panel itself and the interviews before and after, naturally, Clexa was a popular topic of conversation, hinted at by the writers on social media and the journalists in attendance. When Kim Shumway referenced a particularly Clexa filled, spoiler-y trailer without hinting what it contained, Shawna Benson replied “Sell it. Sell it hard.”
The panel finished with more teasing, and finally, the writers posted a long-awaited picture of Eliza Taylor and Alycia Debnam-Carey together. Shawna Benson acknowledged the teasing, saying, “Your trolling skills are top-notch.”
At this point, Lexa had been killed off four months before.
“Being able to represent the LGBT community [in Season 2] was very humbling and such an honor … it’s groundbreaking, but it’s not a big deal in the show and that’s why it’s so groundbreaking, because it’s authentic.“
“I know what I want the final story to be, and where I want these people to end up at the end. I don’t know how long that’s going to take. I’m not going to say I want to do the show for as long as I can do it. I want do the show for as long as it’s interesting to me and where we’re creatively not repeating ourselves.”
The filming in Vancouver remains the most egregious form of fanbaiting, the climax of more than 10 months of teasing and hints and engagement with the Clarke and Lexa fandom. During this time, the writers had not managed to quell fears that Lexa had been killed off—LGBT+ fans have deeply ingrained fears—and rumors were flying that Alycia Debnam-Carey had not been on set since episode seven.
And on the day of the premiere, everything broke loose.
Jason Rothenberg invited fans to attend filming in downtown Vancouver, and Henry Ian Cusick posted a tweet that he was working with Alycia Debnam-Carey and Eliza Taylor that morning. Naturally, the internet went wild and was soon flooded with pictures, videos, and reports of Clarke and Lexa filming together. They were close, intimate, badass, and both characters looked very much alive.
Jason even went so far as to post a behind the scenes picture of the two actresses, and he made sure to point out that they were eating rainbow colored candy.
Still, fans were nervous. One fan in particular who attended filming in Vancouver got the chance to meet Jason. The ensuing conversation can be found at the end of this post. Apparently, we read too much into things.
‘As a bisexual and bigender identifying person, things like television were outlets I turned to to avoid the harsh reality I had to face every day. Seeing characters on television like Clarke and Lexa, who reflected who I am, meant so much to me. I was beyond excited to find out that my favorite TV show, The 100, was filming in an open location, downtown Vancouver where I lived. When I saw the TV show’s producer and head writer Jason Rothenberg tweet his invitation for fans to come on set, I quickly made my way downtown where they were filming by the Olympic Cauldron. I saw with my own eyes the two characters I had invested so much love and time to, acting out before me.
As filming wrapped, I managed to catch up with Jason who had been over looking filming. I had expressed my excitement with him, exclaiming: “This is like Clexa heaven!”
To which Jason responded:“Yes, today is a very Clexa heavy episode.”
I mentioned how I, and many other fans, had been worried that Lexa had died already. He told me: “Well this is episode 16 and she’s on set now…”
And then he asked me why we thought she was dead, so I told him: “Well Alycia had finished filming after episode 7! So we thought it meant she was killed off.”
Jason rolled his eyes and responded: “You guys read too much into things….not that I can spoil anything.”
I was elated, this had given me hope that my favorite character and queer idol could still be alive. I had believed that these writer’s understood the toxicity of the lesbian death trope and wouldn’t fall into that. I was beyond excited for season 3 and I couldn’t wait to see the finale after witnessing it being filmed from such a close distance. Jason really baited me, and I feel betrayed and duped.’
There could be no better confirmation that LGBT+ fans had nothing to worry about: Alycia Debnam-Carey had taken time off from her work on Fear the Walking Dead to fly to Vancouver and film episodes of The 100; she could clearly do both jobs. Lexa was clearly alive. Clarke and Lexa were clearly still romantic. Fan buzz, already high, rose exponentially for the premiere of S3, and the result was the highest numbers the show had achieved since early Season 1. Lexa as talked about extensively by the writers and the journalists covering the show.
Throughout the first several episodes, the amount of social media coverage and promotion once again reaffirmed her popularity and her importance to the show, and with LGBT+ fans relieved she was still alive, social media buzz around Clarke and Lexa only increased, driven heavily by the writers on twitter. Lexa and Clexa-related trends on twitter happened regularly, which was a first for the show week in and week out. The fandom was huge, popular, and encouraged by the writers.
The writers weren’t afraid to tease and play with their audience a little, either. Now that Clarke and Lexa were both confirmed to survive to the finale…could it be possible that they would actually be romantic? Knowing that fans were wondering about the possibility of a sex scene between the two characters, the writers tweeted a series of pictures of Lexa’s bed, with tongue-in-cheek remarks about it’s beauty and importance…
In a move that was remarkably reminiscent of something that had happened the season before, images of Clarke and Lexa’s sex scene were “leaked” in a mid-february advertisement for the British TV channel E4. Just like the year before, the writers took to twitter, apologizing and drawing attention to the incident.
In the run-up to 307, fans were starting to expect that the “leaked” sex scene would occur in this episode. Tweets from the writers and crew only encouraged things: the episode was heralded as the best of the series, one that the audience could not miss, one that should not be spoiled. Clarke and Lexa were promoted everywhere. The hype and anticipation for the episode was at a peak for the series as a whole.
When Lexa was killed, the internet exploded. And not in the way the writers were expecting. Jason Rothenberg’s follower count, which had been climbing steadily since S3 began, plummeted.
It is a natural reaction when an episode that is hyped as a can’t miss and “the best of the series” is the episode where the surprise twist at the end if the death of a minority character beloved by viewers.
Javier Grillo-Marxuach, who had written the episode, took to twitter to talk to fans, defending his story and Jason’s vision. He claimed that the issue of Lexa being killed off was balanced out by the other LGB characters on the show.
In a podcast the day following the episode, Jason Rothenberg
gave conflicting statements about Alycia Debnam Carey’s availability. AMC, who
had previously been fantastic with negotiations, suddenly became the target for
blame. After the conflicting statements were pointed out by fans (who had
Alycia’s schedule memorized, having watched all hiatus for hints that she was
on set and hadn’t been killed off), the writers released corrections and
additional statements.
Jason Rothenberg also admitted to being surprised by the negativity of the reaction, but the extent of his response was a podcast the day following the episode. That podcast contains a number of problematic quotes and pieces of information from Jason, as outlined below.
“We only had the actress for - this was it, she was going to Fear the Walking Dead the very next day, she flew out the next morning and went to… wherever they went to shoot it. So that factored in the storytelling. Lots of factors went into the decision, that was just one of them.”
Eventually, after several long days of discussions with fans, Grillo-Maxuach admitted that they had made a mistake in killing Lexa and handling her death the way that they did. Other writers came forward and expressed that they didn’t expect the reaction they received either–hopelessness and despondency, rather than anger. Jason, however, dismissed all of that.
Angry fans started a fundraiser in protest of Lexa’s death,
raising thousands upon thousands of dollars for disaffected and alienated queer
youth—exactly the kind left behind in the wake of Lexa’s death. Twitter
trending topic “LGBT Fans Deserve Better” achieved a quarter of a million
tweets and trended for several hours during the episode of the show the
following week, eventually being noticed by BBC.
Cast members supported the charity and several reached out
to fans through social media. At the convention in London, cast members even
discussed their disappointment with the story decisions.
Three weeks after the events of 307, Jason Rothenberg and several main cast members made their appearance at a panel for The 100 at Wondercon. This was watched with bated breath, as Jason had issued two—admittedly conflicting—statements the week before regarding his stance on the controversy surrounding Lexa’s death, so many onlookers were anticipating clarification with another public appearance.
When the panel began, Jason opened with a long statement reiterating his position from his earlier open letter addressing the issue. Unfortunately, fans looking for clarification were left disappointed; as with the statements made the previous week, there was no shortage of contradictions and conflicting facts. Specifically, Jason lamented his lack of knowledge about the lesbian death trope—though statements from the writers in the room when the episode was being planned say differently.
“ I was trying to make a different point. I was trying to make a point that life is fragile and that somebody even as powerful as Lexa, could die because she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was the tragedy I was trying to underline. Again, I wish I knew more about this trope back then.”
“I had lesbian/feminist/marxist literally rammed Laura Mulvey’s essay about the male gaze down my throat in college and then later in film school, and still that happened on my watch”
“You would think you would not have let that happen and we did”
“The dead lesbian trope got through this room of people … and it’s been a wake up call”
Jason also confessed to having never seen Buffy the Vampire Slayer and therefore having no idea about the controversial lesbian death from 2002, which mirrored The 100 almost shot for shot. Previous social media comments from the writers, as well as Jason himself, mention BTVS often enough to throw doubt on his statement.
“I wish I knew more about this trope back then, because had I done my homework about it, I probably would’ve come upon the fact that in ‘Buffy,’ a character who was also a lesbian died by a stray bullet, and I was unaware of that because I didn’t watch that show.”
The aforementioned inconsistencies in Jason’s statements
also came up at WonderCon. Below are a collection of answers that demonstrate
how his vision has changed since the March 3rd episode. The
suggestion that “knowing what I know now, I would have done things differently”
raises an interesting question. There is no clarification on what exactly Jason
has learned, and what he would change in response to what he has learned. It
also cannot be determined if he has learned these things from concerns raised
by viewers, or from the media panning.
“Knowing what I know now, I would have done things differently.”
“When I was answering that question, I was thinking that the question meant, certainly in my mind, ‘would you still follow through with killing this character’ and the answer is — and I know it’s not going to make everybody happy — but the answer is yes. But I would do things differently.”
Given that the messy and possibly unethical use of social media to raise fans’ expectations had also become a major point of contention above and beyond just the use of the tired lesbian death cliché, Jason also addressed those issues, by eloquently explaining that people intentionally misunderstood his excitement about the show to be a positive thing for the LGBT+ community.
“My social media interaction with the fans in some way set up around this relationship an unrealistic expectation that Lexa would be okay, that she’d walk off into the sunset. I regret the way that I talked about the show on social- I was excited and sharing my excitement, and that was misinterpreted to mean that I was promising a happy ending.”
Would you approach social media in a different way now?
“Unfortunately yes, I think I need to be careful. The excitement that I showed on twitter set up this expectation that we were going to do something different with Lexa and that she was going to walk off in the sunset.”
“Twitter is 140 characters and it’s like haiku, you can write essays on what people have said in 140 characters, which means that what I said is interpretive as you know, people deem it what they want it to be.”
Although most reasonable people would assume that stating there is always hope for a romantic coupling would imply that both individuals in the romantic coupling are alive and breathing, obviously this was misinterpreted. So in retrospect, this perfectly aligns with his statement that LGBT+ fans who were also excited and happy about the show were “obnoxious.”
“And by the way, the people who are getting what they want are obnoxious to the people who aren’t getting what they want, so I’m not faulting any one side. I just think the whole phenomenon, it’s unusual. It’s a new thing for me to be observing. … [As a midseason show], if anybody doesn’t like the story, there’s nothing we can do about it anyway, [because] we wrote and shot the whole thing before anybody saw anything. On a production level, we’re not racing against an air date.”
The fanbaiting issue was brought to a head when an attendee addressed Jason directly with the accusations of poor social media use. This fan also brought up the unethical, well-documented actions of Shawna Benson, one of Jason’s staff writers. Jason answered by apologizing for the fact that fans intentionally misunderstood his excitement about the show to be a positive thing for the LGBT+ community.
“Why was the decision made to integrate the creative team in the fanbase online and specifically in the LGBT group which was so vulnerable and voiced their concerns and fears so frequently and specifically not just answering twitter questions or tumblr but specific staff members going into LGBT safe zones and going into discussions and saying things like “if you guys don’t trust us by now that we’re not gonna kill Lexa, then you guys need counselling”, things like that specifically?”
“As for what you’re talking about, I’m not really aware of it? I don’t really get it. I wasn’t aware of the conspiracy that we’re trying to hurt people. We were just excited about a show that we were writing for. And I realize now that, you know, sort of a perfect storm of a case against me and against others on our show.”
On a more positive note, The Trevor Project, the charity supported by LGBT Fans Deserve Better
™
, got a mention when a fan asked Jason about it. At this point, the fundraiser driven by the alienated LGBT+ fanbase had raised almost 80 thousand dollars, and Jason announced his full support and prided himself on having a part in a positive social movement as a result of his stories and actions.
“My question is mainly for Jason and Eliza but maybe someone else can give feedback. I wanted to know if you guys are aware of The Trevor Project and the fact that 80 thousand dollars were raised in honor of Lexa. So my question for you is, are you aware of the positive influence that the LGBT community has and how will that influence you in moving forward?”
“Absolutely, I am aware of that and I do think that’s an incredible silver lining in all of this, for sure. Warner Brothers by the way, supports The Trevor Project, as do I. Believe it or not but looking at this whole thing that happened, although it has been hard for me personally, boohoo me, the truth is that it’s a positive. It has really opened my eyes in a lot of ways to the power that stories have in the world and the responsibility that I have as a storyteller. Both in the way I communicate via social media of course and promises, implicit or not, that I might make and the stories themselves.”
“I feel like in this case, the train jumped off the tracks a little. I didn’t really understand enough, I don’t think. Now I do and I’m grateful for the experience, at the end of the day. The Trevor Project is amazing and everyone should give some money to The Trevor Project, please.”
In what is becoming a running theme, this sentiment was decidedly different from the one that he demonstrated on social media two weeks before WonderCon. The night of the airing of 308, the LGBT Fans Deserve Better
™
trending topic was launched and became center stage on twitter with over a quarter of a million tweets. Fundraising for the project was also promoted, and at this stage the fundraiser had only amassed 30 thousand dollars, with hundreds of people donating as it was promoted via the popular trending topic during the airing of 308.
That night, Jason perceived the promotion of The Trevor Project and the popular trending topic about LGBT+ equality to be an attack on him and his show: he retweeted a message from a fan that read “To the bullies, the cowards, and the trolls. You lose. #RenewThe100” and went on to state things such as “do not pretend that because the cause you champion is noble, that you—and how you behave, when you are a bully—are noble” and asked “what are you doing, bully, to be different to those who you say bully you in what they have created?”
The message was heavily coded to be in direct response to the LGBT+ community who were promoting The Trevor Project and the topic “LGBT+ Fans Deserve Better,” so it begs the question whether it was the two week’s time or the 50 thousand additional dollars raised in those two weeks that changed Jason’s perception of the cause and it’s supporters. There was also no clarification on why he found the project and the movement offensive in the first place to warrant this response.
“At first I was obviously offensive; I retweeted some stupid things that I shouldn’t have retweeted and took down pretty quickly.”
The main purpose of this site? To give readers a sense of the source of the anger from fans. It’s not just about a character death. It’s not just about a “ship.” We deserved better. LGBT fans deserve better.
