Some of the information is Boop-Oop-a-Dooping full of SPOILERS. Boop-Oop-a-Doop!
| African-American Betty Boop Controversy[1] |
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As of 2024, the "Black Betty Boop" franchise is officially defunct.[2]
"What happened and why I no longer work with the Fleischer Studios? Why I ended up realizing that it wasn’t the partnership that was originally presented to me. And there isn’t an effort to make African-Americans feel included."
For the "Betty of the People" initiative program the Fleischer Studios were going to launch many different races of Betty Boop, similar to what a Black entrepreneur was already doing.
She claimed to have created Betty Boo, her own take on Betty Boop. Furthermore, Betty Boop was not intended to be the initial idea behind her notion.
"I have always been a fan of Betty Boop, and as an African-American girl, there weren't many characters that represented us. There weren’t many characters where we could see ourselves. As a young girl, I sometimes would color her brown."
The businesswoman has already introduced her own Betty Boop characters: African-American, Muslim, Puerto Rican, West Indian, and Jamaican. She first desired to see women of various races.
She received a letter from the Fleischer Studios in the mail one day. The Fleischers informed her that they had observed her work with "Black Betty Boo" and expressed their admiration for it. She was thrilled when they asked her to schedule a meeting.
The Fleischers asserted that they were attempting to locate groups in order to maximize the diversity and inclusivity of Betty's universal ideas.
After four years of development, Black Betty Boop was finally revealed in 2023. After viewing her work, the Fleischer Studios chose to collaborate with her under the "Betty of the People" program.
The Black owned businesswoman claimed that the Fleischers treated her like a lower class person and made her feel inferior as of 2024. Under the false pretense of wanting people of color and other races to feel included, Fleischer Studios signed a deal to license the Black entrepreneur.
Throughout the collaboration, Fleischer Studios broke their word and declined to advertise her brand or present her collection to retailers. "We'll see what YOU can do," they said to her. After that, we'll return and review our plan of action.
During their market investigation, they discovered that a large number of "KNOCK-OFF" Black Betty Boops are being marketed online. Additionally, the Black business owner discovered via their investigation that Black people in general "don't care" whether "Black Betty Boop" is legit or not, they will still purchase it.
"On top of that, we're dealing with the idea, the history of Fleischer in the Black community," stated the Black businesswoman. with the notion that, despite their denials, they stole Betty Boop's image by using Baby Esther Jones. Look at the court case and make your own judgment; that is another tale.
The Black businesswoman continued by saying that the Fleischers had only approached her to improve Betty's reputation following the PBS[3] report in which Betty was portrayed as a Black lady.
The Black business owner invested more than $10,000 in PR, image, and promotion. Furthermore, the team was not invited to Boop! the Betty Boop Musical by Fleischer Studios.
She therefore hired a lawyer to have herself taken out of the Fleischer contract since she felt abused and angry. The Fleischers provided examples in an attempt to allay the worries. The Fleischer Studios disregarded the issue and showed no interest in finding a solution.
Rather, the Black business owner claims that the Fleischers "put her in her place" and told her that "we treat you like all our other licensees." They informed her that they were unsure of her expectations.
Considering their reputation in the African-American community and the opposition, she expressed her disbelief and outrage.
She was the sole "African-American" member of the team, as it turned out.
"You are the one that is appropriating OUR Betty Boop, using an image that isn't yours," Mark Fleischer informed her. The African American business owner burst out laughing, asking, "Are we really doing that?"
She was not happy that she had to spend more than $10,000 in order to make Black Betty Boop. "Betty Boop is mine, and we're doing YOU a favor by not sending you a cease and desist," Mark Fleischer told her.
The Fleischer Studios forced her to form Black Betty Boop LLC and halted the company's launch until she consented to a name change. The thing that saddened her the most was that "white men" seemed to think she was "below" them.
She claims that they addressed her as though she lacked education. And she also said that the Fleischers are not to be trusted. However, she feels fortunate and grateful that everything turned out the way it needed to.
The Black entrepreneur says she saw the Fleischer Studios for what they really were.