Spider-Man: Lotus controversy explained
YouTubeThe fan backed film Spider-Man: Lotus has seen a lot of controversies on its road to premiering including accusations of racism and homophobia.
In an age where billion-dollar studios are mass-producing superhero content, it’s rare to see a film about a well-known character on the big screen without all the Hollywood bells and whistles.
Spider-Man: Lotus is a fan-made, not-for-profit movie that’s set to be released to the general public very soon.
However, while the idea of a fan-driven Spider-Man movie sounds incredibly fun and interesting, this particular film has been plagued with several serious controversies on the road to premiering, so here’s a break down of everything that’s happened behind the scenes of Spider-Man: Lotus.
Spider-Man: Lotus – All the controversy explained
The film was written and directed by YouTuber Gavin J. Konop, who posted the first trailer for the film in 2021.
It quickly took off garnering about 2.7 million views and catching the attention of Andrew Garfield and Jon Watts, who directed Spider-Man: Homecoming, Far from Home, and No Way Home.
The trailer seems to take inspiration from the comic The Night Gwen Stacey Died, when Gwen is thrown off a bridge by the Green Goblin and Spider-Man shoots a web strand at her legs and catches her. As he pulls her up, he thinks he has saved her, but quickly realizes she’s dead.
Unsure whether her neck was broken by the whiplash from her sudden stop or had been already broken by the Goblin prior to her fall, Spider-Man blames himself for her death and swears revenge on the Green Goblin.
While Garfield’s final Spider-Man film, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, explored Gwen’s death a bit, no other high-budget film has explored Peter’s grief and quest for vengeance, which is why this movie resonated with so many Spider-Man fans.
Anonymous user alleges Spider-Man star is a racist
In June 2022, the anonymous Twitter account Thnnnder posted screenshots of alleged comments made by Lotus actor Warden Wayne (who plays Peter Parker/Spider-Man) where the actor uses a racial slur multiple times.
“Is this your Spider-Man??” Thnnnder wrote, “Warden Wayne is so gross, hoping Lotus recasts him. #SpiderManLotus #wardenwayne“
Wayne was quick to respond to the allegations in a lengthy Twitter statement in which he admitted to using “offensive language” and blamed these actions on being homeschooled and being surrounded by friends that “encouraged and perpetuated these habits.”
Konop then released a now deleted Twitter statement that read: “This morning, many of us were shown resurfaced message that Warden Wayne, the lead actor of Spider-Man: Lotus, had sent on Instagram, and yes, I am just as disgusted by those messages as anyone else is.
They’re hurtful, obscene, and offensive. There is no defending them, and the outrage is justified… In the past, Warden has been open with me about his former ignorance, as well as what could surface as a result, and I have done everything in my power to hold him accountable – not only then, but also today, and forever. I bluntly told him that this is going to live with him for the rest of his life – there’s nothing he can do about it, and that’s the reality that he has accepted.”
The Lotus director also encouraged fans to not let Wayne’s racist actions affect the film as a whole as “[the crew] don’t deserve to have their work diminished because of one person’s actions.” But, it seems like this statement was a bit of a double edge sword as Konop’s hands were exactly clean.
Lotus’ director exposed for racist and homophobic behavior
Only June 27, 2023 Twitter user Berkmanboom shared screenshots in a now-deleted post (which was re-shared by Bounding Into Comics) showing Konop using racial, ableist, and homophobic slurs.
Konop released an apology statement (that he later deleted) in which he said: “While I can’t attest to all of them, I can say that some pretty disgusting screen-recordings & screenshots out there are real.
In my early years of middle school & high school, the R-word, along with other unacceptable terms such as the F-word, were part of my vocabulary, and I had used them fairly frequently. I’m not proud of it, and I wish I had been more mature to know better than to use them, along with several other immature & nonsensical statements.”
However, Berkmanboom claimed Konop was lying about his reasons.
Berkmanboom, later revealed to be a 15-year-old named Matt, wrote in a now-deleted post: “He was even going to help me make my own Spider-Man fan film. He was going to write and edit the whole project. He eventually started to get more followers and changed his platform to Gjkcentral and started to drop me. I had other friends, but no one who I felt understood me like Gavin.”
Matt was afraid to speak out against Konop for fear he would receive backlash from Lotus fans but, when someone else accused Konop of using racist language, he found the courage to expose the director.
And his actions led another anonymous Twitter user to share a screen recording in which Konop uses another racial slur.
Green Goblin actor faces accusation of similar racist behavior
As if things couldn’t possibly get any worse, yet another member of the Lotus cast was on the verge of being exposed for similar behavior.
Derrick Woods, the writer and director of a similar crowdfunded Spider-Man film that has yet to be released, shared screenshots on Twitter of what appears to be a conversation between Wayne and actor John Salandria, who portrays the Green Goblin in Spider-Man: Lotus.
The new screenshot shows Salandria also using the same racial slur as Wayne while defending Konop.
With three of the biggest crew members being outed for making racist, homophobic, and ablest remarks, it was only a matter of time that their project would be affected by their actions and the consequences came swiftly.
Spider-Man: Lotus VFX team quits the project
At the height of the movie’s controversies, the film’s special effects team quit with one of the VFX artists, Max Aurnhammer, sharing a video on YouTube explaining what happened.
“About two months ago, DMs were leaked on Twitter, showing the director and star of the film saying some pretty terrible stuff,” Aurnhammer said, “While some of the DMs were fake, a lot of them were very real, and they were super shocking and disappointing to see for all of us on the VFX team, as I’m sure it was for all of you guys.
The film’s reputation was ruined, and it no longer aligned with what Spider-Man represents as a character. This ultimately led to each member of the VFX team deciding to step away from the project, which was super sad because it also meant stepping away from all the incredibly cool stuff we got to work on.”
His video also cleared up some rumors, such as Konop never mistreating them while working on Spider-Man: Lotus.
And the VFX team capped everything off by showing off some of the incredible work they did for the movie as it wouldn’t appear in the final cut.
Konop releases apology video
Finally, after losing key members of his team and disappearing from social media for months, the director of Spider-Man: Lotus took to YouTube to release a 13-minute apology video.
In the video, Konop calls himself a “giant loser” who often said things to get attention from others. He took accountability for his words and used the word “sorry” when referring to those he hurt with his actions.
Towards the end of the apology, Konop took some time to assure Lotus fans that he wasn’t going to abandon the film and that it would still be released. But, despite Konop still pushing forward with the movie, it seemed like some fans were ready to get a refund for their Lotus experience.
Fans demand money back amid Spider-Man: Lotus backlash
Konop and Wayne had used Indiegogo to raise money for Spider-Man: Lotus, which garnered over $110k from backers. To encourage people to donate, they offered a ton of level-based perks, such as t-shirts, sweatshirts, a copy of the film score, Blu-Rays or digital copies of the film, and a copy of the script.
After all the controversy, many fans began demanding a refund for their donations. However, according to some of the comments found on the site, some of the donors haven’t received any word back from Wayne or Konop.
IndiegogoSome donors don’t want to be associated with the film and have requested that the pair remove their names from the film credits and IMDB page while others were looking to receive any of their base-level perks to no avail.
As of writing this, neither Konop or Wayne has commented on whether their donors will get their money back.
Spider-Man: Lotus release date & how to watch
Spider-Man: Lotus is set to release on August 10 on YouTube. The movie will be free to watch so fans won’t have to spend any more movie to see the final product.
The final trailer for the film was released in October 2022 and you can watch it below:
The official synopsis for the film reads: “Following the tragic death of his former girlfriend — seemingly caused by his own attempt to save her — Peter Parker lingers in his guilt of the past, questioning whether the curse of his alter ego should be buried for good.
When he’s met by the news that a terminally ill child has requested to meet Spider-Man, Peter contemplates the decision to comfort him in his final days.”
It’s been an incredibly long and problematic road to get to the premiere of Spider-Man: Lotus and while not everyone who worked on this project has caused this much controversy, it’s clear why fans want those at the top of this movie to be held accountable for their actions.
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