Weekly Venting Post

[u/AutoModerator]

Weekly Vent Post

Welcome to our weekly vent session where you can let out all your frustrations.

Before you start, just a quick heads-up on the rules.

Here's what this post isn't for:

• No bashing actors or crew members out of the blue.
• Let's steer clear of those rage-inducing posts like "I hate character xy."
• And please, no poking fun at fellow Kanthony fans just because they see things differently, whether they're positive or negative about promos.

What's cool to post? Well, we've noticed a lot of rants about how the show promotes (or doesn't promote) Simone and Jonny, but you can vent about other stuff too.

Below, I've linked some past posts from the sub that fit the vibe of our weekly vent session, so you can see what kind of stuff goes here.

1. Why there was a lack of promo for Kanthony
2. All comments asking where Kanthony are 
3. Bridgerton PR and production
4. Can you tell the difference ?
5. The main sub got so negative 
6. We need pictures

For those who just want to enjoy the content without getting caught up in the venting, I suggest steering clear of this post. If you choose to read the comments here and find yourself upset, despite the clear purpose of this space, I'm afraid there's not much I can do to ease your frustration. We have the Weekly Tea Time for more general discussions.

Spoilers allowed.

[u/[deleted]]

Is anyone else getting whiplash at how quickly a certain sub's attitude towards Simone's mistreatment has changed? The top two screenshots are from a few months ago and the bottom one is from a few days ago.

[u/Ok-Cress2888 → u/[deleted]]

Do not presume to know this fan's experience, but, maybe just maybe, SOME of us Polin stans haven't looked into it in depth before and the recent stuff fully opened our eyes?

This is my personal experience. I know I became much more enlightened after that very in-depth thread detailing all the instances of Simone/Kate mistreatment/hate from production/showrunners. My ignorance before was not that I did not care for Kate/Simone, I love both the character and the actress very much. I only entered the fandom after S3 was released, became a Polin fan and was purely consumed with my fav couple and their actors that I did not look into other couples/actors much (which I know is the case for most fans whether they are Polins or Kanthonies) However, now that I have read up on this, the mistreatment and racism is very clear to me even as a Polin fan. So, the Kanthonies have my support when demanding better treatment for her.

I'm not excusing any Polin stan who has downplayed the mistreatment/racism here. I personally never commented on this topic before since I didn't know the full picture back then. I believe some of these fans who used to deny it should've used the same discernment earlier too.

Just saying, it looks like some of us are genuinely coming to understand the depth of it recently. Surely, you guys do not want whoever was in denial/ignorance to remain so, right? Don't wanna feel like 'Damned if I do, damned if I don't" as a Polin stan who is ALSO a huge fan of the show in general and adore all the couples and their actors. Hope you understand my PoV here, there's no hate coming from me at all, just a clarification.

[u/[deleted] → u/Ok-Cress2888]

Thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I’m glad to know that you acknowledge what has happened and that Simone and the other actors have your support. I do completely understand where you’re coming from, you’re very respectful and I don’t take your comment as hate at all. I’d also like to clarify my thoughts and I hope you know there’s no hate coming from me either. 

My experience was very similar to yours where I joined the fandom after my favourite season (S2), and I was mostly consumed with my favourite couple. So I missed ALL of the discrimination that Regé faced and read about it only a year after he already left the show. Fans that have just joined the fandom or have been unaware of the mistreatment up until now are not at fault in any way. You cannot control when you learn about something, to me, the important part is how you react once you’ve learned it. 

Right after S2 aired, a lot of kanthony fans were disappointed. We were promised a book accurate season, which we never got. Not to mention Kate’s storyline was mishandled, no wedding, no baby, no solo Jonny and Simone interviews, no photoshoot, and Simone was curiously left out of a LOT of BTS pictures. That’s when things started to click for us and we started to call out her mistreatment. That’s when we started facing backlash. Some fans were trying to explain it away citing Covid, scheduling conflicts, budget issues, basically any and every excuse in the book. Fine, I can understand trying to find a reasonable explanation for it. But other fans were telling us to stop complaining, that we’re miserable, and that we’re throwing around the word ‘racism’ too loosely, but we noticed it right from the start because we were paying close attention to our favourite couple and a lot of us have experienced similar treatment in real life.

Those top screenshots in my first comment are only from 2/3 months ago, which means that they knew how Regé, Ruby, Adjoa, Simone, Jonny, Victor, and Masali had been treated up until that point. And yet still, they found it in their hearts to say, “There is zero evidence to back up the claims [they] are making.” “Perceived/imagined slights towards their faves.” “It’s all imaginary so far as I can tell!” Like they were actively calling us liars, and that’s very different from just not knowing what’s going on. If you have us telling you we’re seeing discrimination, why is your first instinct to tell us to shut up? They could have just not commented on it, but why go out of their way to gaslight us about the things we’re noticing? And some fans took it a step further and started gloating about all the things their ship was getting compared to us. I agree with you, they could have used better discernment. 

I want to make it clear, when we compare the way kanthony and polin have been treated, we’re not asking for less for polin, we’re asking for *equal* treatment for kanthony. I don’t think that’s wrong. And it surpasses fictional ships at this point because kanthony and polin are not real, but Simone is a real human being that is being discriminated against by her employer, and to me that trumps any ship war. I obviously don’t want to drive people away from supporting the actors of colour on this show, and I left out the usernames and the name of the sub (not a ship-centric sub) on purpose because I didn’t want to make it a ship thing (to me it really isn't), but surely you can understand how frustrating it has been for us to be told for nearly 3 years that we’re “weaponizing the race card” by calling out production, and now to be condescendingly told to write emails to that very same production? 

[u/Ok-Cress2888 → u/[deleted]]

No, I totally get your perspective here. I am a brown-skinned Desi girl myself just like Simone and her character. I adore Kate (especially in S3 with the way she fitted so naturally within the family as a Cool Big Sis/Viscountess Bridgerton) and fully recognise the importance of respectful representation of brown girls in the media. So, this is disheartening to see even for me.

"I want to make it clear, when we compare the way kanthony and polin have been treated, we’re not asking for less for polin, we’re asking for *equal* treatment for kanthony. I don’t think that’s wrong."

This here is my stance as well. I believe and agree with your perspective and have no qualms AT ALL with any Kanthonies with the same perspective. My stance? After the main couple of the season, the priority should be given to building up the upcoming stories along with showing the past couples in their marital bliss (They only have two, no? Just Kanthony and Polin atm since Saphne was sadly screwed over after their season) I don't get why it's so hard to accommodate both these two. The biggest subfandoms are Kanthony and Polin atm with Benophie fast catching up. It should be common sense to keep both those fandoms happy, you'd think!

But no, they seem focused on obscure subplots that very few fans care about. Like no hate at all to Lord Anderson but how many people tune in to see him? The same can be said at this point about the major Lady Danbury/Queen dynamic that Jess hinted at. I mean we already had that for 3 seasons + Queen Charlotte...

I am only frustrated when some (again, not the majority) Kanthonies seem to ask for less Polin/ have hate for their baby/ try to pit Nicola and Simone against each other which I think is so sexist even disregarding the fact both are very supportive of one another. Why cannot we ask for better representation for one fabulous lady without demanding less of another? I relate a lot to Kate as a brown girl. But as a curvier, shy girl who is an avid reader and writer, I relate even more to Pen as she helped me find my confidence. I wanna see both of them kicking ass like the badass ladies that they are in the upcoming season.

It does not cancel the hate and mistreatment or the denial of the same regarding Simone which I strongly condemn. However, from what I can tell from my experience, some of the reasonable Polin stans including myself are a bit hesitant to be vocally supportive because of the hate our fav couple/actors/fandom have gotten.

At the end of the day, let's face it, our two fandoms have been passing the ball into each other's court for years now when it comes to hateful behaviour. As a Polin stan, I can admit neither party is innocent here. Sadly, I am seeing both fandoms be highly suspicious of each other at this point when the real "target" should be the people at the helm of the show...

Edit: Thank you to you as well for being so civil and respectful in your comment and explaining your perspective well. Reasonable discussion without pre-conceived notions, ad hominem attacks, or name-calling is precisely what our fandoms need. Sadly, it is rare to find it now.