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Spider-Man: Lotus meme

Why Is 'Spider-Man: Lotus' So Controversial? The Racism Allegations Against the Makers Of The Fan-Made Film Explained

The Spider-Man media franchise has proven itself to be a goldmine for filmmakers, with Spider-Man: Homecoming and the animated Across The Spider-Verse films paving the way for a true Spidey renaissance. One person eager to jump on the Spider-Man hype train was a man named Gavin J. Konop, whose goal to make a Spider-Man fan film was turned into a reality when he managed to raise over $100,000 in crowdfunding money to make what he called Spider-Man: Lotus.


The film finally premiered this week, but internet audiences were less than amused by the red-carpet event. Here's why audiences turned on the lead actor and the director of the fan film following the release of a series of racist and insensitive messages sent by both creators.

What Is 'Spider-Man: Lotus' About?

Spider-Man: Lotus was first announced in 2021, with director Gavin J. Konop promoting a crowdfunding campaign for a Spider-Man film inspired by the 1984 story from The Amazing Spider-Man comics "The Kid Who Collects Spider-Man." In the comic, Spider-Man visits a kid with leukemia, Tim Harrison, who is Spider-Man's biggest fan. Konop says the film is about "how we encounter loss, how we deal with it, and how we grow from it."


The video gained over 121,000 views in a year, and the IndieGoGo campaign promoted in the film surpassed its goal of $20,000 by raising over $112,000 US in just six months. By October 2021, Konop had released a teaser, a snippet of the film's theme songs, and even a full-length trailer that has gathered over 2 million views.


Why Did 'Spider-Man: Lotus' Become Mired In Controversy?

Soon after the initial viral popularity of the trailers for Spider-Man: Lotus, old acquaintances of the lead actor Warden Wayne and the director released screenshots of both Wayne and Konop using racial and insensitive slurs.

warden.wayne Although n ga looks like he bombs s--- for fun Warden Wayne I commented "y'all ever make good and funny memes just to flex on blerd vision ni as?" And he got mad warden.wayne Here you go This that Mexican ni a Warden Wayne Ni ja was mean as h l always saying NICER and saying he had b hes
GJK GK When you find out you're 0.05% black so you can say n a Y'all mind if I uhhhhhh Black people noise G.K Yeah G.K Uh, re rd I'm not making one The Stark suit would look good if the coloring wasn't s--- & those re ded black lines weren't there


While Wayne took accountability for his messages and apologized for his behavior as a younger person raised in a racially insensitive setting, but Konop denied sending the messages altogether. But racist direct messages weren't the end of Konop's problems; artists working on the Spider-Man film with him accused him of underpaying and in some cases not paying them altogether.

low_res_jpg @low_res_jpg - Jun 20 Replying to @low_res_jpg Some of this was due to Max Aurnhammer's work. His animation for the trailer was unusable and caused a 40 hour crunch to get it finished. And despite being fired, he was brought back, and I was forced to hand my assets over to him. Gavin stood by him. So baffling. (3/5) 168 2,021 low_res_jpg @low_res_jpg - Jun 20 There's a myriad of small things that built up. "Death by a thousand cuts" sort of situation. I was mis-credited continually, and even sent YouTube tutorials by Gavin to try and "help" me do my job. What? And now, come to find, we were lied to on top of all that. (4/5) 1 171 1,932 low_res_jpg @low_res_jpg - Jun 20 I wish I could be more proud of my time on Lotus, because I really learned a lot. It's some of my most technically proficient work, and it's a shame for it to be attached to a project with this type of legacy now. (5/5) 3 167 2,194 www low_res_jpg @low_res_jpg. 23h This whole thread has blown up, so I want to add an addendum: . Gavin isn't solely to blame for the crunch. We originally agreed on a date (which was announced), but unforeseen things happened. • The pitfalls were due to miscommunication, not malicious intent. (1/2) 2 1 16 611 ... low_res_jpg @low_res_jpg. 23h • We were compensated for our work . We are not responsible for all of the leaks happening now. Our communication with Gavin ceased in January, all of this new footage coming out was shot well after we left. The Goblin suit hadn't even been made at that time. (2/2) 3 16 632


Did 'Spider-Man: Lotus' Premier?

Despite all the hurdles, Spider-Man: Lotus premiered in August 2023, complete with a private showing and a red carpet event. This premier didn't come without dissidents; various internet users took it as an opportunity to share their collection of memes that play on the involved party's racism controversies.

story 11/10 URS Relax, Miles, it's just a word. Your people say it all the time. Stop calling me that!


Many memes about the film's racism controversies featured Miles Morales, the black Spider-Man.


For the full history of Spider-Man: Lotus, be sure to check out Know Your Meme's encyclopedia entry for more information.

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