Barb From “Stranger Things” Has Come Out As Bi
Shannon Purser, who was Barb on Stranger Things and plays Ethel Muggs on Riverdale, came out as bisexual on Twitter yesterday. 19-year-old Shannon declared her love of both peen and poon after fighting with Riverdale fans on Twitter about whether or not the show partakes in queerbaiting. In the show’s first episode, Betty and Veronica kiss during cheerleading tryouts. They never go beyond that kiss and they never get into a relationship or anything. To me that kiss (yes, I watch Riverdale) was purely meant to be shocking since they did it to make the cheer team. Some fans didn’t like that the show shamelessly used faux-lesbian shit for ratings and had no intention of developing a real and organic relationship between Betty and Veronica.
The drama all started when Cole Sprouse (who plays Jughead Jones on Riverdale) burped up a tweet (that he later deleted) about how the show’s haters are either eggs or “someone who looks like they graduated Hogwarts with a magical liberal arts degree.” Shannon burped up a response to his tweet (which she also deleted) by telling him not to forget “angry Beronica stans” (aka fans who want Betty and Veronica to get together).
When the fans shit on Shannon for dismissing the LGBTQ community for wanting representation on TV, she answered back with these tweets:
And I get that, representation is so powerful and important. But we didn't write the show? We have literally no say in what happens. https://t.co/V4k4m8TgKU
— Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) April 18, 2017
Lemme clarify, not angry at beronica stans. Not even angry at rightfully upset beronica stans. Disappointed with hateful people. Peace ✌?
— Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) April 18, 2017
Shannon later clarified her thoughts in an apology where she also came out as bi:
— Shannon Purser (@shannonpurser) April 19, 2017
Let me break this down again for us dusty olds who aren’t totally fluent in Tumblr:
- Betty and Veronica kiss in the first episode for shock value. This pissed off some fans because instead of exploring a real teen gayelle relationship between two characters, the show went the “Ohmygod, two chicks kissing, so shocking, so sexy!” route.
- The fans who are upset about the queerbaiting expressed their thoughts to the cast of Riverdale on Twitter.
- Shannon called those fans out as “angry” and “haters.”
- Shannon was accused of dismissing their concerns.
- Shannon apologized and said that she’s recently come out to her family and friends as bi.
I think I got it. I think. I have two thoughts about this. First of all, YAY for Barb. Second of all, my thoughts are with the future children of Beronica fans who will probably be named Beronica.
Pic: Wenn.com