(Molly Bruns, Headline USA) In yet another attempt at comedy, leftist comedians have miserably failed in HBO Max’s new adult cartoon, titled Velma, which is loosely based on characters from the iconic Scooby-Doo show.
According to the Daily Wire, the show follows Velma Dinkley, portrayed as an Indian-American high school student, who puts together a team of detectives to help her clear her name when she’s framed for a murder.
Actress Mindy Kaling wrote and produced the show, and also voices the titular character.
“We knew it would be fun for me to play Velma, but we had a conversation where Velma is white, and we have this new choice to do the show and if I’m voicing her, should she be white or should she not?” Mindy Kaling—who is Indian herself—said in an interview.
The the trailers and reviews indicate that Velma spends a great deal of time complaining about racism and belittiling her classmates.
Within hours of the release of the first two episodes, negative social media reviews were going viral. The show currently sits at a 7% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
The show is not just frustrating to the franchise’s loyal fans, or to those who resist the wokification of beloved shows, but also to leftists who insist the show is too overt. Some leftist critics even claim the show is conservative.
Velma is… extremely not good.
It reads like a right-wing YouTuber's clumsy understanding of what a "diverse" show is.
Which, given that its showrunner is Mindy Kaling, who has faced criticism for transphobia and once described herself as "way conservative", kind of makes sense pic.twitter.com/LI4wO1e8pN
— Bad Writing Takes 🖊️🏳️🌈 (@BadWritingTakes) January 12, 2023
“It reads like a right-wing YouTuber’s clumsy understanding of what a ‘diverse’ show is,” one unenthused leftist user wrote.
Despite the marginally better score from professional critics, even they openly asked “where did everything go so horribly wrong?”
Entertainment Weekly said the show “mostly replaces the old silly sensibility with crass name-droppy pointlessness.”
A critic from Variety accused the show of “never [being] as groundbreaking as it thinks it is,” and also added that “these characters are just really unpleasant.”
The show goes to great lengths to embarrass Fred, portraying him as a simpleton who struggles to even cut food.
Shaggy is now Norville, who is described as “a school-newspaper striver friendzoned by his beloved Velma.” According to reviews, Norville attempts to sell his organs to earn money and blackmail Velma into going out with him.
Daphne is a drug dealer, and there are hints that she and Velma have a relationship.
Ironically, the namesake of the original, Scooby-Doo, is excluded from the show altogether.
A recent portrayal of Velma in Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo also depicted Velma as a lesbian. The movie aired on Cartoon Network, a station marketed to children.
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