“i tried including diverse pics in terms of ethnicities” but it’s just white people 🧑‍🦲

Lots of white fans pissed that a series that is overwhelmingly white is finally going to have Black/POC characters.

Here’s a hint: when you start your rants off with “I’m not racist but…” there’s a really good chance that what you’re about to say is racist af. Y’all really need to do some soul searching and take a hard and long look at why a character being played by a Black man is putting you in your feelings so much.

Look. I am what they call a “fandom old.” I’ve been a vampire chronicles fan for as long as I can remember, and am older than most of the people on this site who are now active in the fandom. I’ve been there for all the terrible adaptions and all of AR’s bullshit. I know what it’s like to desperately want to see a good and faithful adaption of this series. I’ve been wanting one for as long as I can remember. I get it. And I get feeling nervous and having qualms about every piece of news that comes out about the series. It’s hard to see the pieces but not the whole. You’re passionate! And that’s wonderful!

But we don’t know what we don’t know. Yes, they are changing Louis’ character. Yes, they’ve chosen to reimagine him as Black. So…use your imagination! Think about it! There’s no reason we need another slave owning white male protagonist on tv. His origins are terribly outdated, and keeping his origins would make him an incredibly difficult character to sympathize with for today’s audience. In the 1970s - 90s, they were able to get away with it because audiences could overlook that shit. Now…not so much. And rightly so. This is evidence that audiences have evolved. And more importantly, that the show runners give a shit about representation and making the show watchable for POC.

It is not a good look for white fans to be crying and insisting that his backstory must stay the same. That he MUST BE a white slave owner in order for it to be a good adaption. That it must be “pure.” Think about that. What message does that send to POC fans? What does that say about YOU as a white fan in a predominately white space? Do you think that makes you anti-racist? Do you think that kind of behavior makes this fandom a safe space for POC? Think about who is reading your words, the other fans you may be hurting, the next time you fix your fingers to type some white tears bullshit about a show about VAMPIRES.

The only point I’ll concede is that I don’t know that making Louis a brothel owner is much better for the series, but depending on how they handle it I think it would be a great way to show his sensitive nature; as someone who cares for those on the margins of society, as a misfit. And I say that as someone who is a sex worker. At the end of the day, it is a lot easier to create a sympathetic protagonist in casting a Black actor to play a brothel owner than it is to cast another white man as a slave owner.

I’ve been ashamed of this fandom before due to AR’s nonsense, but I’ve never been disappointed because of the fans. The behavior I’ve seen in the VC tag over the past day or so has been truly awful. Some of you really need to do some soul searching about what’s important to you about this series. Because upholding whiteness and historical depictions of white supremacy shouldn’t be one of them.