'The 100' executive producer finally breaks his silence about that huge death
[Caution: Spoilers ahead!]
You may not realize it, but on TV lesbian and bisexual characters have a tendency to get killed off more frequently than other types of characters. In many cases, the offing happens after a happy or positive moment -- just to make things sting a little more.
While The 100 is normally hailed for being one of the more progressive shows on television, it seemed to embrace that same old trope a couple weeks ago. And now, executive producer Jason Rothenberg has finally spoken out about the incident.
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In the episode "Thirteen," Lexa (Alycia Debnam-Carey) was suddenly and unexpectedly killed shortly after she consummated her relationship with Clarke (Eliza Taylor). The bullet that killed her was meant for Clarke.
The outcry that followed the episode very quickly spilled into social media, and hasn't let up since the episode originally aired March 3; the reasons why are summed up well right here.
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While Rothenberg expected a response to Lexa's death, he didn't realize it would be quite so powerful.
"Lexa was a meaningful character to our fans, especially LGBTQ fans, and so I knew it would be emotional, of course," he told TV Insider Monday, making his first formal comments on the backlash. "What was unexpected was the level of outrage that it’s generated from some people, but I do think I have come to understand that."
Rothenberg said that he checked out of social media shortly after the episode air, as the weight of the response started to settle in. He wanted time to "process," and felt like it wasn't his place to wade in until he could.
"I took my voice out of it on Twitter because I didn’t want to inflame the situation, and I felt like I didn’t want to shape the conversation," he explained. "I just wanted to listen and try to understand."
Rothenberg readily admitted that, as a straight, white male, he didn't anticipate what the death might mean to LGBTQ fans. Even the pre-episode process of hyping up the big event was wrong, in hindsight.
"Lexa's death triggered real emotional trauma for some people," Rothenberg said.
"I look at it now and I realize that if somebody had that kind of a reaction and then were to look back at the way I behaved on Twitter leading up to it, which was celebrating this relationship that then crushed them, I can understand why they would find that reprehensible. I hope that people understand that."
Unfortunately for Rothberg, it seems lots of fans still don't understand his rationale. The #LGBTFansDeserveBetter hashtag is still populated with critical tweets -- only now they're responding to Rothenberg's response.
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Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
