Current Events > In the new Rugrats Betty is going to be gay

(+) Yeah! (+)

https://www.avclub.com/betty-is-going-to-be-gay-in-the-rugrats-paramount-plus-1846973879/amp

So are they also going to touch on the divorce and coming out she obviously had too?

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Howard and Betty always did seem like two gay people who decided they wanted kids and got married for the tax benefits.

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so that poor little man that she was pegging each night in the original show gets to be free?

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not surprised

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It's kinda funny how gay-presenting she was despite being married to a man, but this is doing Howard dirty. He had his role.

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...why are they choosing to make a new version of my favorite childhood show instead of making a new show entirely?

That's what always happened; new show for new generations; not rehashes of thier parents cartoons (and all the rehashes they DID do failed, FOR A REASON).

legit: this is dumb. (And not for the angle TC presented.)

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Guide posted...

It's kinda funny how gay-presenting she was despite being married to a man, but this is doing Howard dirty. He had his role.

https://youtu.be/mvdBDm7FrQ0

The guy got owned so hard, he could never show his face again

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Guide posted...

It's kinda funny how gay-presenting she was despite being married to a man, but this is doing Howard dirty. He had his role.

It doesn't work to me in my logic because they already had Rugrats All Grown Up and she wasn't gay or dirvorced from Howard in it so I don't get it..

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who was more obviously gay

Betty DeVille or Hey Arnold's teacher Mr. Simmons

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ThePrinceFish posted...

who was more obviously gay

Betty DeVille or Hey Arnold's teacher Mr. Simmons

Mr. Simmons. They actually showed his boyfriend and hinted as hard as they possibly could in 1998.

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This is stupid as hell. I can buy her being bi, but not gay. All Grown Up shows she had a happy, lasting marriage so what's the point?

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dave_is_slick posted...

This is stupid as hell. I can buy her being bi, but not gay. All Grown Up shows she had a happy, lasting marriage so what's the point?

Bruh, how did you not catch on to the fact that they had a weekly date night where Betty scissored chicks in a sports bar bathroom while Howard walked naked around a bath house

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i think this is great if only because of the 30 year olds that are gonna be outraged over a cartoon about babies

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I can dig it, I didn't even remember Howard to tell you the truth.

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BabyRoxann posted...

I look forward to the coming outrage by triggered snowflakes ITT *mmmmmm* delicious!

Yea.... coming from you.

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Seems like they're just playing into lgbtq stereotypes with this.

Of course the butch feminist who likes stereotypical male hobbies is actually a lesbian.

pegusus123456 posted...

Mr. Simmons. They actually showed his boyfriend and hinted as hard as they possibly could in 1998.

Craig Bartlett also confirmed it. I dont think Betty was originally supposed to be gay. She was just supposed to be the big, obnoxious, sportsy dad (think Big Bob from Hey Arnold) stereotype, only gender-swapped to make her more interesting. Howard also seemed like a gender-swapped version of the meek, submissive housewife stereotype.

BabyRoxann posted...

yummy yummy :D

Terrific retort

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Lokison posted...

Terrific retort

Like you really served him a hard one lmao

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Definitely not watching

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will angelica have boobs yet? Surely she's gotta be like 23-24 or something by now.

pegusus123456 posted...

Howard and Betty always did seem like two gay people who decided they wanted kids and got married for the tax benefits.

i legit thought that was actually the canon ngl

they should do this for this movie rather than just giving him the shaft. i always liked howard

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Naysaspace posted...

will angelica have boobs yet? Surely she's gotta be like 23-24 or something by now.

Wtf

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I had to look up the character (and her husband) because I didn't remember anything about them.

Wow, that's terrible. So if you're not feminine it means you must be a lesbian? You can't be a tough brash girl who's into sports? That's ridiculous. Betty and Howard was a fun role reversal but now they're changing the character for woke points? I really hate this. Mr. Simmons is obviously a different story, he was supposed to be gay in canon and that's great. That's representation. But just going back and changing people to be gay just so you can say you have a gay character is really obnoxious.

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HHH is the game posted...

Wow, that's terrible. So if you're not feminine it means you must be a lesbian? You can't be a tough brash girl who's into sports? That's ridiculous. Betty and Howard was a fun role reversal but now they're changing the character for woke points? I really hate this. Mr. Simmons is obviously a different story, he was supposed to be gay in canon and that's great. That's representation. But just going back and changing people to be gay just so you can say you have a gay character is really obnoxious.

Bruh, shut the fuck up

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RustyFerret posted...

Seems like they're just playing into lgbtq stereotypes with this.

Of course the butch feminist who likes stereotypical male hobbies is actually a lesbian.

F'ing this. Her whole "strong feminism" was always written as a joke in the show, just like Angelica's mom's "power woman in a man's world" was a ball-busting lul@wimminz libbers joke. This is regressive tokenism.

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VanananaHeyHey posted...

F'ing this. Her whole "strong feminism" was always written as a joke in the show, just like Angelica's mom's "power woman in a man's world" was a ball-busting lul@wimminz libbers joke. This is regressive tokenism.

Butch gay women exist.

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She was pretty gay when I was a kid. Making it canon changes very little.

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pegusus123456 posted...

Butch gay women exist.

Yeah, I know, and they hardly ever show up on media except as jokes. Butch straight and butch bi women exist, too. Taking a character who was always "lolllll she's talkin' feminism" and making her a lesbian isn't a victory for butch women, it's a comforting stereotype for people who already had that assumption and want to feel like it was correct of them to do so.

Bring me more butch women, please!!! But stop pretending that this type of stuff is anything novel or progressive. It's the same joke as 25 years ago, but now it's just "and it's fine she's that way," when the "that way" she was was always a lampoon of actual feminists and amalgamation of lesbian stereotypes.

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VanananaHeyHey posted...

Yeah, I know, and they hardly ever show up on media except as jokes.

What indication is that this character played by a gay woman will be a joke?

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pegusus123456 posted...

What indication is that this character played by a gay woman will be a joke?

My contention is that butch lesbian women are overwhelmingly portrayed as jokes in media. This includes Phil and Lil's mom in the original run, whose entire schtick and humor was derived from being confident, deep-voiced, having a cowed husband, being overtly self-empowered and other "lookit this reversal!" 'jokes' common to the 90s. I didn't make any comment on how seriously this iteration would take the character, rather that they are just propping up the stereotypes as something informative and useful for making judgments about people (in this case, determining lesbianism).

Taking that same character and vindicating those stereotypes by saying that all the stereotypes were leading to that stereotype being true is not sudden respect.

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VanananaHeyHey posted...

This includes Phil and Lil's mom in the original run, whose entire schtick and humor was derived from being confident, deep-voiced, having a cowed husband, being overtly self-empowered and other "lookit this reversal!" 'jokes' common to the 90s.

Literally every adult had the same thing going with their own unique gimmicks. They weren't particularly deep characters.

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pegusus123456 posted...

Literally every adult had the same thing going with their own unique gimmicks. They weren't particularly deep characters.

I was never arguing that she was uniquely poorly developed. But most of the other adult characters' gimmicks are not being woven into a new narrative that is based on a minority group's stereotypes. "Depressive toymaker" and "dispositionally nervous guy with hot wife" aren't harmful in the same way "overbearing lesbian" and "cutthroat career-prioritizing harpy" are.

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So we're back to

pegusus123456 posted...

Butch gay women exist.

pegusus123456 posted...

What indication is that this character played by a gay woman will be a joke?

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VanananaHeyHey posted...

My contention is that butch lesbian women are overwhelmingly portrayed as jokes in media. This includes Phil and Lil's mom in the original run, whose entire schtick and humor was derived from being confident, deep-voiced, having a cowed husband, being overtly self-empowered and other "lookit this reversal!" 'jokes' common to the 90s. I didn't make any comment on how seriously this iteration would take the character, rather that they are just propping up the stereotypes as something informative and useful for making judgments about people (in this case, determining lesbianism).

Taking that same character and vindicating those stereotypes by saying that all the stereotypes were leading to that stereotype being true is not sudden respect.

I have to agree. The idea of her character started as "Strong woman who found love in a softer man" and instead of sticking to the whole: "Straight woman can also be "Butch" (as you call it)" we're getting the definitive "If you're a woman and butch, you're gay" vibe.

Rugrats was great at breaking stereotypes, and that's a HUGE part of the reason I love that show. Doing this.. it's an insult. I dont expect you (general audience, not poster) to understand why I think that, but its real.

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And you're back to "butch women who exist are adequately represented in this tokenized stereotype character and I see nothing wrong with telling people they're right to assume women like this are butch lesbians."

You can't take a character who was a joke, make the essence of the joke the most exciting thing about them and them demand, sight unseen, that I give it preemptive good faith.

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It's just crazy that people think that just because somebody is not feminine they must be gay and they think that making that canon is a positive thing.

It's great to have a diverse cast. Not every show needs a diverse cast. I saw people actually saying they should make some of the babies POC because all of them were white.

Rugrats is from the 90s. Its ok that its mostly about white people. There are many families in the world or groups of friends that are all white. That is life. Not every show needs a diverse cast. Not to mention, it had Suzie on the show, it had Kimmy on the show, it had Jewish characters and specials...it was diverse enough. There are shows about white people, shows about black people, shows about white and black people together. That is life. Not everybody has a diverse friend group. THATS OK.

If you want a show about gay characters, make a new show about gay characters. Its not offensive to have a show where three or four families are there and they are white and straight. ITS OK.

Politically I agree with the left, I agree about treating people with respect, being kind to others, but the left in general socially has lost their minds and its sad.

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yassssss get it Betty

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HHH is the game posted...

It's just crazy that people think that just because somebody is not feminine they must be gay and they think that making that canon is a positive thing.

It's great to have a diverse cast. Not every show needs a diverse cast. I saw people actually saying they should make some of the babies POC because all of them were white.

Rugrats is from the 90s. Its ok that its mostly about white people. There are many families in the world or groups of friends that are all white. That is life. Not every show needs a diverse cast. Not to mention, it had Suzie on the show, it had Kimmy on the show, it had Jewish characters and specials...it was diverse enough. There are shows about white people, shows about black people, shows about white and black people together. That is life. Not everybody has a diverse friend group. THATS OK.

If you want a show about gay characters, make a new show about gay characters. Its not offensive to have a show where three or four families are there and they are white and straight. ITS OK.

Politically I agree with the left, I agree about treating people with respect, being kind to others, but the left in general socially has lost their minds and its sad.

Couldnt have said it. Better myself.
[LFAQs-redacted-quote]

Your as smart as a tadpole that jumps right into the alligator's throat.

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She has to be bi tho right? She had a kid so that dude fucked her

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Lord_Shadow posted...

She has to be bi tho right? She had a kid so that dude fucked her

Why does the matter in a children's cartoon? At what age do you personally believe people should learn the "Birds & the Bees"? 4? 6? Or closer to 12?

Remember this is a CHILDS cartoon.

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Lord_Shadow posted...

She has to be bi tho right? She had a kid so that dude fucked her

A lot of women come out later in life. It takes a lot of thinking and experience to override expectations of heteronormativity. Many lesbian women have been married to men while they were closeted or hadn't bothered delving into their sexuality yet. Many gay men have children with women before coming out, too.

I suppose pegasus will come at me now for giving real-world women more trust and nuance than this warmed up cartoon token.

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If any character on Rugrats should come out as gay its Tommy. Hes the one almost everyone cared about the most and connected to; allowing gay people to feel confident in that revelation would be AWESOME. No stereotypes, just a beloved character that just so happens to he gay. He was a baby when first introduced after all.

Straight folk have identified with him, and the bigger bigots might come to realize they have more in common with gay people than they realize.

Edit: why are we going the lesbian route; lesbians have been accepted for years (well fetishized..) but gay men, thats still a stigma on society for some fucked up reason.

Also, I hope this is an 'All Grown Up' thing, otherwise everything I said goes WAY you the window

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