PAW Patrol BLM Controversy

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Part of a series on Cancel Culture. [View Related Entries]

Overview

PAW Patrol BLM Controversy refers to the online debate surrounding the children’s TV show PAW Patrol, which depicts a crew of animated search and rescue dogs that protect the fictional community of Adventure Bay. Amid the 2020 George Floyd protests and the Black Lives Matter movement, the official PAW Patrol account posted on social media supporting protestors, which sparked backlash among many online who claimed the show perpetuated the good-cop archetype and should be canceled, especially regarding the police dog named “Chase.” This resulted in a wave of support for the show from supporters who began using "I Stand With Chase" to resist the “cancel culture” surrounding the show.

Background

On June 2nd, 2020, coinciding with the George Floyd protests, the official Twitter^[1] account for PAW Patrol tweeted that the show would “be muting our content until June 7th to give access for Black voices to be heard so we can continue to listen and further our learning.” The tweet (seen below) received over 1,900 likes, 1,300 retweets and 1,700 replies, many of which criticized the show’s various concepts or characters.

Developments

Online Reactions

On June 2nd, 2020, users online replied to the tweet with a mixture of support or criticism (serious or jokingly), particularly surrounding the character “Chase,” who’s depicted as a police dog. One such example was tweeted by Twitter^[2] user bathwaterbad who said, “you’ve already brainwashed a bunch of kids into thinking law enforcement is a noble and just profession. better to scrap production forever if you want to make lasting change,” receiving over 375 likes. Twitter^[3] user ksworldtraveler supported the message and stated, “So sad. We should support police. I will never tell my child police are bad. We should be supporting ALL. God doesn’t discriminate why should we? We are 1 race the Human Race. Don’t teach hate!”

Other terms, such as “cancel Chase” or claiming that the dogs were “class traitors,” also appeared in the replies. On June 2nd, 2020, Twitter^[4] user WINDuckyQuaCKer tweeted an image below the post (shown below), receiving over 1,600 likes and 292 retweets.

On June 10th, 2020, The New York Times^[5] published an article titled, “The Protests Come for ‘Paw Patrol,’” and said, “A backlash is mounting against depictions of ‘good cops,’ on television and in the street. It’s a joke, but it’s also not.” The article was shared widely on social media, where it appeared with users supporting the message or detracting it. One such example comes from Twitter^[6] user DLoesch, who tweeted “The rage mob is coming for PAW PATROL” on June 10th, 2020, receiving over 2,500 likes and 1,000 retweets.

In the following days, after backlash over the alleged attempts to cancel PAW Patrol circulated online, many began pointing out that the movement was intended as a joke, seen in a post from Twitter^[7] user Too_ManyCats on June 13th, 2020. The tweet (seen below) stated, “When are all the people complaining about "liberals" canceling Chase from Paw Patrol gonna realize it was a joke created by Gen Z and that the media took it out of proportion? Cause I SWEAR cancelling Chase Paw Patrol is the funniest thing rn,” and received over 3,500 likes and 436 retweets.

Twitter^[8] user brittany_broski also referenced the outrage shown by some online, and stated, “them cancelling paw patrol is the funniest thing to happen so far. they really said “time to turn in the badge,” receiving over 28,700 likes and 1,800 retweets.

On June 12th, 2020, Redditor^[9] DuncanRyder posted a meme to the r/altdogelore subreddit (shown below) under the caption, “Oh god this is it. The protesters are coming for Paw Patrol. This is the end of racism and police brutality.” The meme, which also linked the NYT article, received over 884 upvotes.

On June 13th, 2020, Redditor^[10] MrsHDG started a discussion on the r/OutOfTheLoop sub and asked, “What's up with ‘I stand with chase / Don't cancel Paw Patrol?’” In the comments, Redditor TheTrueProxy pointed out that “A lot of people in support of ACAB and BLM are also being tongue in cheek about the whole paw patrol thing yet the media is covering it as if everyone is 100% serious about it.”