Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh Is Mad Betty Boop, Who Is Based on a Black Woman, Is Being Played By a Black Woman

I’d like to make it through just one week of Matt Walsh not being upset about a fictional woman. But, this week, it’s Betty Boop.

News broke of Quinta Brunson being tapped to play the iconic character. As you would expect of any news featuring the Abbott Elementary star, there was some palpable celebration. But, you gotta remember, Matt Walsh hates diversity, fun, and life in that order.

That eternal fact is how we end up with The Daily Wire figurehead raging about Betty Boop on the Internet this week. As everyone else is just kind of relishing some good news for once, here comes the discourse hall monitor to spoil it for everybody.

And if that wasn’t bad enough, Walsh picked a fight with the peeps over at DiscussingFilm. (Appreciate ur posts friends!) Anyway, he’s always upset about something and this week it’s old cartoons that my girls in the nurse practitioner racket really enjoy.

Walsh wrote, “There is only one reason to bring back an iconic piece of Americana just to race swap it like this. Even a faithful Betty Boop reboot probably wouldn’t sell many tickets.”

“A race swapped Betty Boop has absolutely no chance of success,” this man argued. “But they do it anyway out of spite. They aren’t even trying to make money. It’s just pure resentment.”

Where do you even start? Betty Boop being largely fake? That seems like a good entry point. But, then there’s the obvious fact that Betty Boop is based on a Black woman. Let’s get into that.

Betty Boop’s likely inspiration

So, before we even start, let’s talk about how fraught the creation myth is for Betty Boop. For someone just enjoying the cartoons and the vibes, our girl seems like a mashup of popular Jazz performers from the mid-1920s. 

However, Max Fleischer and Fleischer Studios likely had some specific performers in mind. In fact, Helen Kane ended up suing the studio in 1932, and argued Betty Boop was based on her act. According to Ray Pointer’s The Art and Inventions of Max Fleischer: American Animation Pioneer, Fleischer’s legal representation used a young woman named Baby Esther as a plausible inspiration. 

Esther Lee Jones rose to prominence in the Jazz era. Her small stature and playful stage presence could easily be mapped onto Betty Boop. Most historians rule against such a definitive statement. However, borrowing from multiple women seems pretty plausible from here. 

Quinta really seems perfect for the project

More than anything else this just seems like an opportunity to denigrate a black woman. Something that Matt Walsh and his ilk never ever hesitate in doing. Gwens Brunson talked to Variety about her development of this new project. She has the blessing of the Fleischer Studios estate and the Internet at large. So, why would you be upset?

“Betty Boop is one of our nation’s most beloved cartoon characters, yet somehow still remains pleasantly niche,” Brunson told the outlet. “She has had a quiet but undeniable impact on culture for nearly a century.” 

“After Erin and I met with Mark and learned more about his grandfather’s creation of Betty, I realized there was a much deeper story to tell,” she continued. “One that could be explored in a way that feels refreshing, subversive, and timeless, much like Betty herself.” 

(featured image: Prime Video)

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