Problematic Fave / Laughing Chris Evans

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Part of a series on Social Justice Blogging. [View Related Entries]

About

"Problematic Fave" is an expression used to describe popular celebrities or fictional characters that have been accused of some form of prejudice or bigotry. The phrase is often associated with social justice blogging on the website Tumblr.

Origin

On March 17th, 2013, the "Your Fave is Problematic" Tumblr^[3] blog was launched, which features blog posts about various celebrities along with examples of gaffes, jokes or public statements that are perceived as "problematic". The first post featured a list of points about comedian Louis C.K., accusing many of his jokes of being racist or misogynistic (shown below).

Spread

On May 22nd, 2013, The Daily Dot^[5] published an article about the Tumblr blog. On September 22nd, 2014, YouTuber AConMann posted a video titled "Your Fave is Problematic," which criticized the expression for being too judgmental and unforgiving (shown below). On October 30th, the Tumblr "Your Fave is Shit" was launched, which accuses various celebrities of bigotry.

On February 6th, 2015, Urban Dictionary^[4] user merger submitted an entry for "problematic fave," defining it as a favorite character "who has problematic views and opinions."

Jeremy Renner and Chris Evans Controversy

On April 22nd, 2015, the pop culture news blog Digital Spy posted a video interview with the Avengers: Age of Ultron actors Jeremy Renner (Hawkeye) and Chris Evans (Captain America). At the beginning of the video, the interviewer asks the pair a question about shipping the character Black Widow (portrayed by Scarlett Johansson) to which Renner replied "She's a slut." leading Evans to burst into laughter (shown below).

Following the release of the video, many accused actors of slut shaming on various social media sites like Twitter and Tumblr (shown below).

On April 23rd, 2015, the video found its way to 4chan's /tv/ (television and film) board^[2], where many defended Renner's statement as a joke. Following that, numerous reaction images and various other derivatives had been made, primarily featuring the a shot of Chris Evans laughing (shown below).

"Your Fave Is" Twitter Accounts

Since as early as 2014, a variety of Twitter accounts using variations of the phrasal template "your fave is" have been reporting which celebrity falls into specific designations. One of the earliest accounts, @faveisbisexual^[6] or "your fave is bisexual" has been posting images of famous bisexuals. The account launched on October 14th, 2014.

Over the next four years, more accounts utilized the format to post "faves" that are pansexual,^[7] "a dumbass,"^[8] emo^[9] and more, either for sincere or humorous and sarcastic purposes (examples below).

Your Fave Is Problematic Author Reveal

On February 25th, 2021, the New York Times^[11] published "My Year of Grief and Cancellation," an editorial by Liat Kaplan, who says they ran the blog "Your Fave is Problematic." In the article, they explain that they started the blog following the sudden death of their sister, but later came to regret their work. They write:

In the years since, I’ve looked back on my blog with shame and regret -- about my pettiness, my motivating rage, my hard-and-fast assumptions that people were either good or bad. Who was I to lump together known misogynists with people who got tattoos in languages they didn’t speak? I just wanted to see someone face consequences; no one who’d hurt me ever had.

There’s something almost quaint about it all now: teenage me, teaching myself about social justice on Tumblr while also posturing as an authority on that very subject, thinking I was making a difference while engaging in a bit of schadenfreude. Meanwhile, other movements -- local, global, unified in their purposes and rooted in progressive philosophies -- were organizing for actual justice. Looking back, I was more of a cop than a social justice warrior, as people on Tumblr had come to think of me.