The State of the Supergirl Fandom

Casting my support for the cast. ALL the cast.

There are a lot of good ideas and comments being presented. I, however, want to raise a somewhat different view of the events and the shipping. My wife is a therapist and what I believe I am observing is "projection." This is projecting my feelings on others. I believe that this is going on right now with respect to Jeremy's song and the shipping. To those of you living outside the US, I understand. I lived in the Middle-East and SEA. I saw first hand how sexual preference was dealt with there. While I respect the cultural impacts of those societies, I cannot expect that the cast is even remotely aware of how the gay community is portrayed in film and tv. I can say that I saw how blacks were portrayed over in those parts of the world, and it was disgusting to say the least.

Every culture has its biases and prejudices, and when we are producing programs that eventually go international, there is no way of knowing what cultural taboos you may cross. So give the actors a break.

At t he same time, American Society has developed a mindset of what are insults, micro aggressions, and an intolerance for differing views. Call it political correctness or whatever, but keep in mind a vitriolic attitude is part of this. Those of you who have read Orwell's 1984, should remember newspeak, a form of controlled speech that very much resembles what is going on today. This is what we are seeing on the anonymity of social media today.

I am a fan of Supergirl. Not everything about the show is to my taste. Still I enjoy it. The actors have brought to life with great support a wonderful story. We should all enjoy it without throwing rocks at aspects or characters we don't. Melissa, Jeremy et al are human beings practicing their craft. Let's show them the respect and gratitude for their accomplishments.

Let's chill,

Argo

Also, whoever is using the Profile Pic I posted make sure that you either don't crop the watermark out, OOOOR, give https://twitter.com/samayerswrites credit, he is the one that created it. Doing both would be great, but if you have to crop it, somehow give him credit for it please.

Thank you!

@Kelly,

How do we go about that rally? Should we use that image in our tweets and posts?

On twitter, Instagram and tumblr use it as your profile pic.....if you are tweeting something that you think is important and is a high five to the cast, or a cast member, you can put attach it to your tweet. You use it however you want.....

Kelly, what is this rally, campaign you speak off? Can you provide some background to it.
I've been living under a rock all week with a family emergency and came on today to catch up on SDCC, and WOW, JUST WOW. I'm just starting to get a grasp of it all. I'm still completely gobsmacked by how this have blow up. Right now, I'm actually quite depressed by how the cast is being bombarded with so much vicious hate. I'm not a social media person, so it baffles me.

But THIS, this might actually get me on it just to join in a supportive rally for the cast. Especially Melissa, who, as the lead seems be be getting the brunt of it. Poor Kid. It really couldn't happen to a nicer, more generous actor and person.

I really haven't caught up most of it yet, so I probably can't speak accurately to it, but it seems like a lot of misinformation is out there too. Then bringing up stuff that has nothing to do with this particular incident just to attack a cast member. What a horrible way to end the event.

It's not like a MASSIVE MOVEMENT or anything...lol Many of us on Social Media are just tired of going back and forth with people. People have their opinions and they are free to have them....so when we see a negative opinion we simply post a positive, we retweet and like the positive stuff on the cast, and many of us have changed our profile pics to the one I posted here and we post the pic whenever we see negative as well. So it's not about making a HUGE IMPACT, it is simply about showing our support of this cast. That's all.....

@ Gavagai : Thank you for the video, it was painful and instructive to watch.
@ SSAV : Thank you for your statement you moved me.
@ Admin (Eric) : Thank you for your recapitulation of the events.

At that point im' just sad for everybody. Anyway i'm sending love to everyone (no exception).

@Kelly,

How do we go about that rally? Should we use that image in our tweets and posts?

On twitter, Instagram and tumblr use it as your profile pic.....if you are tweeting something that you think is important and is a high five to the cast, or a cast member, you can put attach it to your tweet. You use it however you want.....

Kelly, what is this rally, campaign you speak off? Can you provide some background to it.
I've been living under a rock all week with a family emergency and came on today to catch up on SDCC, and WOW, JUST WOW. I'm just starting to get a grasp of it all. I'm still completely gobsmacked by how this have blow up. Right now, I'm actually quite depressed by how the cast is being bombarded with so much vicious hate. I'm not a social media person, so it baffles me.

But THIS, this might actually get me on it just to join in a supportive rally for the cast. Especially Melissa, who, as the lead seems be be getting the brunt of it. Poor Kid. It really couldn't happen to a nicer, more generous actor and person.

I really haven't caught up most of it yet, so I probably can't speak accurately to it, but it seems like a lot of misinformation is out there too. Then bringing up stuff that has nothing to do with this particular incident just to attack a cast member. What a horrible way to end the event.

Thanks for the tweet Kelly. I have retweeted in my twitter and embedded in my tumblr.

As well as a few really decent tweets from Jeremy.

Yes! I was told that I don't have privileges to complete the action too! (For Accept as Answer button).
Supersad! To tempt us with this button, and then say, "We don't have the privileges".

I agree with what Admin said. And, thank you!

And... yes.. I'd like to show support for the cast too. I do have context, and have been following them for the past two seasons. I do not think they are homophobic. Quite the opposite in fact. Very supportive. And I feel for them.

For the first time in many months, I searched for Supergirl tag in twitter and all I found was harsh and painful comments directed at the cast. And, they do not deserve that. In no way.

I think many of the LGBT folks who are speaking out (even a bit) harshly against the cast don't have the context that you guys and the cast have. And, we have.

I did speak to a writer (and fan) about how what they (cast) did was not right, but they didn't know the context and it was definitely not homophobic. And that they are human and everyone makes mistakes. And, it was understandable.

And she said she agrees, but can't write an article about it because at this point, it would just fan the flames.

I agree because, that is what I have seen even with reviews such as for Wonder Woman over there. The comment thread for these articles become battlefields for opinions; and even the article writers get attacked for being racist or something else (because well, homophobia cannot be directed at them). Truly, at times,even homophobia is directed at them. (Also, FYI, these hateful tweets or any SG mention at all (except, "I am not giving up on the show", I didn't see in her twitter threads. In any of theirs, really.)

As for me, as I have mentioned before, I follow very few folks on tumblr and one or two on twitter. And I have seen them (fair disclosure, none of them are SC, but most are LGBT) speak out against this attack on the cast. And I know from experience that in tumblr, you get hate even if you are nobody and you are just speaking in favour of something. Even if it is just a ship nobody else ships, you get hate. Hell, if you are just writing for your satisfaction, you get hate from people who want you to write for them (for free).

So, there is limited speaking up and corralling that you can do. Hence, this "one bad apple (or a large very visible number) spoils the lot" is kind of painful to hear. As is, folks saying, paraphrased, that it is your own fault at this point for not coming down on them hard. Silence is sanction, so to speak.

We are not apples. (Though, my sis tells me that I look like an apple )

Would you, those on both the left and the right, like to be held responsible for those of your members who have done everything from terrorism to online harassment to assault in the name of the values that either of your political parties hold true? Sometimes not even in the name of values but mere events that they didn't agree with. (I am not being hyperbolic here. Twitter war is nowhere near terrorism but, acts of assault and terror have been committed in the name of both sides in politics and such.)

Because, honestly, I don't hold you responsible. However, it feels like some of you guys are doing it to us. ("Feels like" being the operative word here. That may not be your intention. In which case, I apologise if you feel attacked.)

(In fact, I know the cast got a lot of hate last year during election for their open comments on the election.)

I don't want a political discussion here. And I used this example only because the online vitriol I see is something that I have seen in the political arena too.

Sigh!

The point is. There is limited speaking up for cast that we can do. We do what we can. Being LGBT doesn't mean our words have more value than yours in this case.

Anyways, twitter rally sounds great, because I for one would love to see something positive on my twitter feed directed towards the cast.

And now; God! I'd really like us to move on.

Just one thing to clarify, Chris wasn't at the charity event. Katie and Teri represented Supergirl.

But speaking of Chris, a comment he made sarcastically and even stated was sarcastic has been used against him to paint him as homophobic. These people were very clear to exclude his follow-up words that it was sarcasm and intentionally misrepresented him. These posts have gone viral on Tumblr and resulted in a fresh attack on his instagram page. He's being attacked for saying the exact opposite of what they claim he is saying. They also claim that Mehcad told Katie to shut up in Italian. That also led to attacks on Mehcad's instagram. He's disabled the comments in his most recent posts. I don't know if Chris will do the shame.

They are relentless and intent on forcing the cast to kowtow to them.
This is the video with Katie's comments setting it up.
https://youtu.be/LQLU58Adtd4?t=7m

EDIT:
Chris' fans are now flooding his page with positive comments to drown out the hate.

Hello again,

A lot has happened since comic con. First I want to thank you all for keeping it civil while we were traveling. I have said that I was going to keep a close eye on this thread and I have, but traveling and covering the convention hasn't made it easy for me to comment, make suggestions, or moderate. While there are some comments I think that are a little borderline for this thread (considering the heightened scrutiny) I believe you all have comported yourselves with respect and dignity.

So for all of that thank you!

I wanted to take a moment and weigh in on what I think is going on with the fandom and the events of the SDCC song.

I believe that Squishpanda wrote a wonderful timeline of what has happened, but this is my list of the events that happened to get us here (the following is from my point of view only).

1. The strong female characters of Supergirl in season 1 drew crowds of people from all sorts of different creeds, genres, sexual orientations, and nerd cultures.
   
2. As Supergirl’s popularity grew, fandoms and shipping started to take hold, an innocent and common activity for all shows.
   
3. Some groups found something in Supergirl that they could relate to and wanted more of. While the show wasn’t necessarily perfect for them, they were able to add the portion they felt might have been missing through fan fictions and shippings. Again a totally normal and innocent practice.
   
4. A group that rose to some popularity was the Supergirl and Cat shippers. They wanted two strong positive female role models to be together romantically.
   
5. While the creators of the show didn’t want to go that route, bringing a lesbian or LGBTQ relationship to the show would help further balance equal representation on the show.
   
6. Alex was given the lesbian storyline where she would explore her own sexuality. Now let me be clear, I don’t think this was to placate anyone, nor do I think this was to just bring along the story for the heck of it. Greg Berlanti and his shows have a history of trying to be more balanced in their representation of many cultures in America.
   
7. Next, and this part I am a little confused about, James was removed as a romantic interest and Mon-El was brought in.
   
8. So as season 2 started, we had the stage set to maneuver everything to where it is today. Calista Flockhart (Cat Grant) wasn’t able to move to Vancouver. She was essentially removed from the show. This meant that Cat and Supergirl shippers didn’t have that level of entertainment of having Cat on each episode. Now did they go to Supercorp? I have no idea. But I would imagine that with the absence of Cat and the addition of Lena, some shippers were excited at the possibility of those two powerful female role models being together.
   
9. Furthermore, Mon-El replaces James as a romantic interest and Mon-El isn’t the lovable character that James is right out of the gate. While James has all the lovability of Jimmy Olsen’s character behind him, the lesser known Mon-El is given a storyline that writers want to develop. They want to show how Kara inspires the best in everyone. While we saw that with her talking the gunman down without powers in season one, or getting the prisoners of the fight club in Roulette’s gang to turn on her for the greater good, the Mon-El storyline was there to show how Kara could inspire someone who was never a hero to become one of the best heroes of Earth. They also wanted to do that over many episodes rather than just a simple example that lasts one episode.
   
10. So as Supergirl season 2 continues, more characters, new network, and new stories allow for new shipper groups to form. You get Karamel, Supercorp, Sanvers, and so on. Furthermore, folks can be in one, multiple, or all because its all there for fans to be apart of. However, As Mon-El and Kara actually do start to date and the Karamel shippers start to get their ship as canon, there is a sense of validation for them. Alternatively, Supercorp fans are not receiving that validation.
    
11. Now, bad apples begin to ruin everything. Because Karamel and Supergirl share the titular character, a division appears. One group feels validated as their ship becomes canon, and one feels attacked (and is attacked) by some because their ship isn’t canon.
    
12. The bad apples continue, more arguments start. The bad apples (and notice I am not saying all, just the few) of Supercorp start to attack more publicly. This especially heats up when Rahul Kohli is cast as Lena’s heterosexual ex-lover. After being attacked by Karamel bad apples, for so long, that their ship wasn’t canon a casting event happens that some would view invalidates their ship. The bad apples of Supercorp attack Rahul. This the biggest public event to happen to date.
    
13. Now, feeling more invalidated, and having Mon-El win Kara back in the musical, bad apples (after being attacked by Karamel bad apples) take it too far again and go after Chris Wood. Negating Mon-El’s character, for some, is a way to get back at the Karamel folks. (there are legitimate concerns for Mon-El don’t get me wrong, we’ve discussed them at length here). However the attacks on Chris Wood were hateful and specific. They went after his father and his charity. The culmination was in the Heroes for Heroes charity event where an organized effort was created to boo and embarrass Chris and Executive Producer Andrew Kriesberg. This was a charity event! Chris wasn't there but you know he was made aware of what happened.
    
14. I would imagine now, that the bad apples on both sides are going crazy! Karamel bad apples are attacking Katie McGrath in response to Chris being attacked and things are spiraling out of control. I have seen the tweets against Katie and they are just as appalling as the attacks on Chris.
    

I know that was a lot to recap but I think its important to recap how we got here. This is where I want to share my thoughts on the events at SDCC. Having seen the cast and crew together, not in front of cameras, they are very close. I can attest to that personally. They are totally aware of what is going on because some of them were literally experiencing it. Furthermore, they are all friends and they don’t want to hear their friends are getting attacked.

I think that is actually an important piece to what happened at the convention. Jeremy knows that Chris was attacked hard. I talked with Chris at one of the parties I went to and he was super nice. I told him how much I personally loved the Mon-El character and his addition to the show. You can hear in our interview with him how he addresses the “toxic” nature of Kara and Mon-El. He used the words that are often thrown at him in the attacks on Twitter.

So you have Chris probably feeling a bit worried about going to SDCC with the Supergirl cast because he was booed, embarrassed and targeted at the charity event (even though I know he wasn't there). He probably was worried he would be attacked again. So, interview after interview, the cast continues to keep up their positive attitude and try and have fun. Finally in song, Jeremy sees a moment to comment on the events of season 2 and he throws out the “Lena and Kara are not going to get together” and yells “they’re just friends”. Consciously or subconsciously in my opinion, Jeremy was standing up for his friend Chris. Furthermore that is why Melissa said he was brave during the interview. You can hear Jeremy note that he knows he’ll get backlash from his comments but I think that’s why Melissa said he is brave. I think they were just standing up for their friend after having all the attacks laid against Chris from the end of season 2.

I personally don’t think that Jeremy was saying or singing what he was to negate the LGBTQ community but rather to aim at the bad apples of the Supercorp shippers. Was it right? I don’t think so, as we’ve seen the backlash be way more than what he thought it would be. There are news articles about it, attacks on almost all the cast members now and people calling for Melissa to issue an apology. Ultimately, I think Jeremy, in the heat of song, used a large of a weapon to defend his friend but his intentions were never that of homophobia.

I would like to add a few other things.

1. Do not tell me what the cast meant by the song. Ya'll are not the cast so don't speak for them. Unless your superpower is mind reading just stop.

2. Stop blaming all SC people for what some do. I am old, but I am not their mother so I can't ground them from the internet. And I have seen many SC fans tell people to stop doing things but again not one can make them. Unless of course there twitter or instagram account is reported.

3. Stop generalizing and saying that the only bad fans are SC fans. Ya'll all love Monel so you probably don't get hate from Karamel fans but it's out there.

4. Last but not least. I reiterate that the hate against the actors is wrong. No one is denying that. But that doesn't mean people can't be upset or disappointed in the cast.

1. Isn't that what everyone is doing...I take the history of this cast along with me as I watch that video. I take what Melissa said in an interview just a couple of hours before if that....where she is specifically asked about #Supercorp and she says, https://twitter.com/dailypicmelissa/status/888851186836803584 Katie said the same exact thing, and everyone is oooooh glorious she's our angel...lol something like that...lol So, I think everyone is interpreting what they meant.....I just simply take in to account, the numerous times they (Melissa and Jeremy) have worked with different LBGQT charities, they have stood up for them, they have many, many friends within that community. I simply take all of that into account, as well as the months of harassment.

2. The reason SC people are getting blamed is because when we see their tweets, it is in their profile, they have hashtagged in their reply, on tumblr all they talk about is @Supercorp....that the VAST MAJORITY of the tweets and posts we are talking about are coming from people that SAY THEMSELVES THEY ARE A PART OF #Supercorp. What the hell are we supposed to think? You are correct there are some that have asked them to stop....I follow a few of those people, so you are correct....but that doesn't negate that the vast majority of the harassment tweets and posts are from people who call themselves #Supercorp people.

3. I believe everyone here has stated that they understand that there are some that follow #Supercorp that are not a part of this fandom.

4. Again, we have all stated that we understand that you believe that the harassment of the actors is wrong but that you are still disappointed in the cast. There are those of us that simply are not disappointed in them because we don't see what happened as a grand, huge thing that should be put up there with all of the horrible things that the LGBQT community is up against. Especially since these two actors have proven themselves time and time again how much they support that community. It is like ALL OF THAT IS WIPED AWAY because of this, and that IMHO is ridiculous.

I don't know why you keep repeating these things. Are you thinking that we will at some point totally agree with you? We understand that you are upset with the cast and writers......ok....you have every right to be, that is totally your thing. Go for it.... We just simply are not upset with them...and see a different side of it, that's all.

"Don't generalize"
"Y'all all love Mon-El"

@Kelly,

How do we go about that rally? Should we use that image in our tweets and posts?

On twitter, Instagram and tumblr use it as your profile pic.....if you are tweeting something that you think is important and is a high five to the cast, or a cast member, you can put attach it to your tweet. You use it however you want.....

I tried replying earlier but it showed an empty comment.

So let me try again. I think there are a lot of things going on.

First of all it seems that people fail to make the distinction between "I'm offended" and "that's offensive". People can and do get offended by any number of things, but that varies from person to person. When you say something is offensive you are saying that everyone is offended, or that everyone should be offended.

Second is the issue of intent. People say it doesn't matter what Jeremy intended because the damage is the same.
I disagree, call me old fashioned but I think intentions matter, even if the result is the same.
Imagine I spill a glass of red wine on your white carpet. There is a difference between me deliberately throwing my wine glass at the carpet, and me dropping my wine glass because I tripped. Yes, either way I should apologize and try to fix it, but that doesn't mean you have the right to accuse me of vandalism.

The worst part of all of this is that it occurred in the huge lull between seasons, otherwise we would be discussing what happened in the last episode and speculating on what will happen in the next episode.

I honestly don't understand how people can put so much energy into being spiteful.
I am strongly reminded of Jon Ronson's TED talk "How one tweet can ruin your life"

If I were a showrunner, it would definitely give me pause to introduce any LGBT storylines if there's even a remote chance of opening up my cast to such attacks.

Hmmm... Anyone who was around here last summer when it was mentioned a gay character was being introduced, I openly hoped it wasn't Supergirl for...this...very...reason--making note of the venom cast at show runners and actors of The100. I feared same thing would happen here. Could never have predicted THIS, however. Good grief, Charlie Brown.

The only potential silver lining in all this is that I hope the hooligans actually follow through with their threat to stop watching the show (yeah, right). To that I say good riddance. Please go ruin some other show and leave us alone. The SG fandom will be so much better without them.

This this this this this this!*head nods Squishpanda*

Thanks for passing this along, Kelly....

@squishpanda

Holy Moly, I couldn't have said it better. I am truly sorry for the respectful people who felt hurt, but yeah...I truly believe this was a clap back at the toxic segment of the SC fandom that has been harassing the cast (and that's putting it lightly) for MONTHS. And for the cast to get that sort of harassment from a group, for months on end, and not be expected to do anything about it is unreasonable. Like us, they are human, and their feelings get hurt by that endless harassment.

It took a few days to wade through all the SDCC coverage (great job by the admins, btw!) and I've mostly stayed mum on this thread since everyone else pretty much echoed my sentiments (it's actually scary how Thaloli and Kelly and I are almost always on the same wavelength on most issues) but please allow me to share my thoughts on the rightful mess post-SDCC.

As far as I see it:

1) The LGBT community wanted representation so they made up the Supercorp ship (nothing wrong with that)
2) Sometime during S2, they allowed the vilest, most disgusting elements to become the voice of their fandom
3) That toxic group started harassing/bullying cast and crew whenever their dream ship isn't being serviced
4) The cast/crew has had enough and began fighting back, culminating in Jeremy invalidating the whole SC ship
5) The shippers feel slighted and doubled down on their hate

And my reaction/opinion to that is:

I absolutely have no sympathy for them and they deserve whatever comeuppance comes their way. If you've hurled vicious threats all season long but have the audacity to play the victims after the casts' negative response to your vitriol, you deserve dirt. I'm sorry, but there's really no justifying their behavior.

That being said, it was unfortunate that some of the non-toxic fans were hurt in the process and they deserve every bit of our empathy. It's also regrettable that in this day and age, anything said/done can offend just about anyone (and that toxic group is always on the lookout to pick apart anything to feel affronted by). So while not all members of the LGBT community took offense to Jeremy's outburst, to make matters worse, the ones that did rallied their troops so that even non-fans started piling on the hate.

We all know that Jeremy was clapping back at the behavior of the toxic SC fans. The part of it being blown out of proportion was that even LGBT folks who aren't even fans of the show put on an assault, throwing around words like "homophobia" so casually without even bothering to educate themselves about Jeremy's history as an LGBT advocate. And adding their hateful rhetoric to those from the SC hooligans only further exposed how much toxicity is within the LGBT community itself (although a lot of them voiced their concerns respectfully as well).

If that's the kind of representation they wanted, then congrats to them for succeeding. Supercorp has now become a pariah in Hollywood circles and they only have themselves to blame for that. The behavior of their toxic fans run counter-intuitive to what they're trying to accomplish and the message they're trying to send. If I were a showrunner, it would definitely give me pause to introduce any LGBT storylines if there's even a remote chance of opening up my cast to such attacks. If I was a casting director, I'd really think twice about hiring talent with a history of troublesome fans, not when I have a whole pool of other actors to choose from (I really like Katie but boy does she have a lot of messed up fans). And cannibalizing one of their strongest supporters does no favors to the LGBT community at large. I genuinely feel for the respectful LGBT folks and the good SC'ers whose whole fandom has been dragged through the mud but maybe this incident empowers them to TAKE THEIR FANDOM BACK.

As of this writing, the nasties are currently harassing David (him and Melissa have blocked people anew) and even started on Rahul again. Isn't it just sad that the cast actually expects vitriol hurled their way whenever they say/do something? In their interviews, you can clearly see them visibly stiffen up and throw each other side glances whenever the Kara/Lena relationship is even broached. It wouldn't surprise me one bit if the cast cancels every con on the future than deal with this BS.

The only potential silver lining in all this is that I hope the hooligans actually follow through with their threat to stop watching the show (yeah, right). To that I say good riddance. Please go ruin some other show and leave us alone. The SG fandom will be so much better without them.

Not to go OT here, but I note in the post a button that says "Accept As Answer." What will happen if one clicks it?

Hit it.....I dare ya.

Already done it (i didn't have the rigths for the action )

@Kelly,

How do we go about that rally? Should we use that image in our tweets and posts?

I'll start tossing posts like Kobe hits three pointers (I'm not a basketball guy I have no idea if that analogy makes sense).

Kobe Bryant has retired from basketball, so the analogy can be like Russell Westbrook, who plays on the Oklahoma City Thunder (the former Seattle Supersonics!)

But as to the fandom, these people live up to the word FANATIC which Merriam Webster describes as...

marked by excessive enthusiasm and often intense uncritical devotion

But when said criticism is mentioned, they melt like the snowflakes they are!

This entire witch hunt at the cast has really gone too far now. On YouTube the amount of hurtful comments from people are so vile even people who do all those reaction videos are posting vids on about it. I don't understand how they think their words are God and saying thousands of people kids etc are hurt. Which I think is a complete fabrication. They go about saying they will no longer make / watch SG anymore and want their subscribers to do the same. Even on Jeremy's instagram people post they have been deeply hurt by him you would think he committed a terrorism act

Steven sometimes what you write on here is just ranting about ratings. BUT MAN OH MAN DID YOU HIT IT OUT OF THE PARK!

These people are coddled, babied pieces of inhumanity who do not like it when their lifestyle is threatened, even if it comes in something non-threatening like Jeremy's song...made up on the spot might I add. These people wanting him silenced...well as it took place on US soil in San Diego, is his FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND OF SPEECH. First Amendment you know. I did see postings on IG from some in the LGBTQ community, well, blasting the blasters if you will. One said they actually LIKED the song. I think it was silly, but it had a nice beat to it. It was a commentary wrapped in a song perhaps soaked in sarcasm. We all could use a little sarcasm in our lives.