The cartoon series “Scooby-Doo” has become popular for its endings, in which the characters unmask criminals they have discovered.
A recent revelation about the animated show might just be its most important in the past 53 years.
In the new Warner Bros. movie “Trick or Treat: Scooby Doo!,” the lead character Velma Dinkley is revealed to be a lesbian as she becomes infatuated with another woman.
In a recent article, Variety has confirmed the queerness of the cartoon character through excerpts from Thursday’s released film.
Velma falls hard for the sassy character Coco Diablo in the new film. At one point, she fogged up her bespectacled orange glasses from pure adoration.
In another scene, Coco touches Velma’s shoulder, causing the latter to react with fear.
For years, people who love the cartoon have thought – and assumed – that Velma might be gay. Recently, James Gunn (who wrote the early live-action films) and Tony Cervone (a supervising producer for “Mystery Incorporated”) said those rumors could be true, even though neither of them made anything obvious on screen.
Following the news of the character’s coming out, fans took to Twitter to express their joy. One user wrote:, “Velma being gay is actually massive, we’re at a point in time when this major character, full of decades-old history and fans, gets to actually be a lesbian and that’s just another part of her canon now! Sometimes we need to celebrate these wins.”
A second person said, “We have won. Velma is a lesbian with impeccable tastes.”
Some people were unhappy with the news, though. “They destroyed Scooby Doo with this woke LGBTQIA nonsense. Just another attempt to indoctrinate children,” one said.
Another claimed the franchise had been taken over by identity politics, while another sarcastically sniped “Why not make Velma black and disabled as well? Are they racist and ableist?”
Warner Bros has yet to release an official statement commenting on Velma’s sexuality.
The company is not the only one to make queer visibility more common in children’s entertainment as of late. Earlier this year, Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative announced that 50% of regular and recurring characters across all Disney programming will come from “underrepresented groups.”
