#But intent doesn’t erase that they made wrong decisions and their behavior was unacceptable and in no world was it okay | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

sage-nebula · 4 years

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I’ve been mulling over Jenna Marbles’ most recent video for the past few days, processing both the video itself and what it means for the future of someone whose content honestly means a lot to me, and I think I’m finally ready to throw my own opinion unto the masses, at least to get the thoughts out of my head and the emotions off my chest.

So, with all of that being said, first and foremost:

Jenna wasn’t canceled.

Read that again, if you need to. I really think this is something people need to understand. At no point was Jenna Marbles canceled. No one was calling for her to be canceled. Her video came as a shock to everyone for the sheer fact that she wasn’t being canceled.

At no point did Jenna’s viewership tank. At no point was she a negatively trending hashtag. At no point were there masses of people wanting to #cancel her. People did tweet at her asking her to address her past videos, yes. She says this herself in the video. But a handful of people asking her to address past videos or current friendships does not a cancellation make. Jenna’s fanbase is in the millions, and I’m sure that although they stood out starkly to Jenna because she is a sensitive person who genuinely cares about how she affects people, the people that were sending her tweets requesting answers were far fewer than the support Jenna has had for years now. So no, Jenna wasn’t canceled. This wasn’t Cancel Culture™.

With that said:

Jenna did address racist videos that she made in the past (along with slut-shaming videos as well). She showed the clips, she flat out said that they were racist and wrong (unacceptable then and unacceptable now), and she didn’t make excuses for them. She apologized. The wording of her apology wasn’t always the best (“I’m sorry if I ever offended you” veers close to “I’m sorry you were offended”), but her intention and the meaning was clear. She regrets ever making that racist content. It’s not content that she would create now, nor is it content she condones. It was racist and wrong and she’s sorry.

So the question is: Why are so many people trying to defend the content that Jenna herself finds reprehensible?

I have seen many people (white people, namely) who are trying to say “that wasn’t even blackface” (even though it was) or “it was a different time back then.” First of all, while Jenna did have a bad spray tan back then, she was doing a mocking impersonation of a black woman. It was blackface. Second, blackface and racism weren’t any more acceptable in 2011 than they are now in 2020. As Jenna herself said, it was wrong then and it’s wrong now. Yes, those videos are old, and Jenna’s content has changed drastically since then. However, 2011 was not so long ago that it was a completely different era of history—and even if it was, blackface was still racist, derogatory, and wrong even during the period of history in which it was everywhere. There was never a single moment in time when blackface was acceptable or okay. There was never a single moment in time when making racist impersonations of an Asian language was acceptable or okay. And Jenna herself recognizes this—she says as much in her video, where she says that what she did back in 2011 was wrong, that she should have never made that content, and that she’s holding herself accountable for it. There is no excuse for the content she made, there’s no dismissal for it. It was wrong, she knows it, and the fact that she owns up to that and holds herself accountable is what (in my opinion) makes her worth respecting as a person. But with that said?

If you’re not one of the groups featured in the racist content, you really do not get a say in whether it was racist or not.

White people don’t get to judge if something is racist toward black people, or Asian people, or anyone else. If you’re not a woman, you can’t say if something’s misogynistic. If you’re not queer, you can’t say if something’s queerphobic, and so on and so forth. You don’t get to say, “This wasn’t actually blackface and wasn’t really racist” when you yourself are white and plenty of black people are saying otherwise. They get the final say. So even if the problematic content in Jenna’s old videos was up for debate (and it isn’t), you are not the one who would get to debate it. Black people are. Asian people are. Those affected by the slut-shaming video are. I understand you’re a huge fan of Jenna’s, and I am as well, but you do not have a seat at the debate table for this discussion. Your place is in the audience. And on that note?

People in the affected groups are not obligated to accept the apology.

I’ve also seen (mainly white) people attacking black people or Asian people who aren’t accepting of Jenna’s apology for whatever reason. Fans are angry because Jenna has clearly changed and doesn’t make racist content anymore, and so they don’t understand why people are still upset with her. But here’s the thing: A hurt person is never under an obligation to accept an apology for the people who hurt them, and from what we know of Jenna’s character, she would agree with this. If a black person can’t bring themselves to forgive Jenna for the blackface, they’re perfectly within their right. Someone saying “sorry” doesn’t erase the hurt that was done, and sometimes it isn’t enough. So if you feel the need to start a fight with someone because they say they can’t bring themselves to like Jenna because of her old videos, don’t. It’s really not your place, and again, given what we know of Jenna’s character, she wouldn’t want you to do it anyway. (Though on that note, I’ve seen far more black and Asian people saying they accept her apology and forgive her than not. So again, this isn’t a mass cancellation. It was never a cancellation. No one canceled Jenna, she chose to apologize and take responsibility for her actions of her own volition, and that’s something that should be respected, not reacted to with horror.)

With all of that being said, there’s a second side to all of this that I think a lot of people don’t know about. Julien posted a message on his twitter yesterday regarding Jenna leaving her YouTube channel, and I recommend that everyone read it, but the long and short of it is that while Jenna absolutely meant everything that she said in her video and truly does regret ever hurting anyone and doesn’t want to hurt anyone ever again, she is leaving her channel NOT because she has been “chased off,” but rather for her own mental health.

Jenna has been a public figure for a decade. Aside from a rare vacation here or there, she has consistently made a new video every week, on top of other projects (such as their shared podcast, the Twitch stream, et cetera). Particularly given the sheer audience she has been producing content for, that is a lot of stress for one person to handle, and with everything going on, it’s not in Jenna’s best interest for her to handle that right now. She’s chosen to leave YouTube indefinitely NOT out of fear of any torch-bearing mob, but rather because it’s what’s best for her at this point in her life. Is it sad? Absolutely. I was gutted when Jenna posted her video saying she was leaving, and I’m even more gutted to know that someone I admire so much is struggling right now. But I’m glad that she’s made the decision that’s best for her. I’m glad that she has Julien to support her, as well as their four furry children. And while I’m sure that most people just didn’t know and thus weren’t purposefully ignoring anything, I think that saying that Jenna left because she was “chased off” the platform instead of recognizing that she left for the sake of her own mental and emotional health both pulls attention away from how stressful constantly being on a stage like that can be, as well as does a disservice to Jenna herself.

This was a long post, but it’s one that I felt I needed to share nonetheless. Jenna is a huge inspiration to me as a person. Not in terms of “I want to have a YouTube channel” (because I definitely do not), but rather in terms of how she chose to live her life however the hell she wanted to live it and embraced the fact that she was a lady in her 30s. I’ve learned to take on a lot of that energy. If the podcast is canceled as well, I’ll be truly crushed. But knowing that Jenna’s channel and potentially the podcast are canceled for the sake of Jenna’s mental health eases that a bit. I want her to be happy more than I want her to produce content out of any sort of obligation. She deserves a happy retirement if that’s what she’s chosen to do.

So to summarize:

— Jenna was not canceled, at all, ever.

— If you are not black, you do not get to determine what blackface is. If you’re not Asian, you don’t get to say whether what she said in that rap of hers was racist or not.

— Jenna has truly changed and grown as a person, no one is disputing that, and her acknowledging her past awful behavior, apologizing for it, and holding herself accountable (while not making excuses) is what shows how she has changed and grown as a person and is what makes her admirable as a person.

— Jenna is choosing to leave YouTube for the sake of her own mental health. There is no Cancel Mob. There never was. Goodnight.

#jenna marbles #jenna mourey #julien solomita

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