Good evening I wanted to make a statement regarding the Freckled Zelda case. For those of you who may not know who Freckled Zelda is, she is a legend of Zelda cosplayer who went viral after her appearance on America’s got talent. In recent times she has been quite open about her Christian faith which has caused clash amongst her audience. As of late March, she was accused of grooming And bigotry with content creators, big and small calling out. The main source of the conflict was the accusation that she had sent nudes to a 15-year-old. However, the accusations have been proven as false by Zelda herself, who shared the photos of which had been Photoshopped to be used against her. Similar to way that inquisitor3 was framed of grooming. Please check out, freckled Zelda’s video for more information. As I stated, in my video, false grooming and sexual harassment accusations are one of the most common and deadly forms of cancel culture. Unsurprisingly people react strongly because of the severity of the accusations subject matter. However, I’m yet to see people try and dissect the validity of the accusation. Unfortunately, I feel many were quick to write off Zelda as guilty even with proof of innocence because of their personal grievances towards the Christian faith. Along with, in many cases the same being said for personal and political bias When it comes to grooming and pedophilia accusations. That is definitely the harshest accusation imaginable, and for such an appalling crime it needs to be taken incredibly seriously. It’s atrocious that people will manipulate such a horrific subject matter to suit their own personal desire. For an accusation so grave, it’s important that the validity of the accusation is proven before action is taken. I’ve come discovered an important detail for when these accusations arise, is to see whether action with the authorities has been taken before hand. Imagine you discovered someone you knew was engaged in these horrific activities and you’ve discovered solid proof. While I pray, none of us have or will be in that situation the reaction that you will have will most definitely be one of horror and disgust. In such an appalled state, what would you do? Get the authorities or take to social media. I believe that if one has discovered such an atrocity, their first instinct would be immediately get the police involved for everyone’s safety. I also feel that if once first instinct is to create a story online, not only does that mean, they are comfortable enough with the person still being out in the world, they also have something personal to gain from it. With the proof that freckled Zelda shared of her innocence, I believe that these accusations were started out of religious and personal bias. I encourage everyone who wants to discover the truth of the situation at hand to put aside their personal differences and get both sides of the story. Thank you.

It’s troubling how easy it is to get cancelled. It’s unfortunate because I recall cancel culture being used for good and not well…drama

I'm still a newer cosplayer but due to how online is now...I dont post online bc of it...I just pop up and conventions then go back into hiding again

You really hit the nail on the head on this matter. I myself has experienced cancel culture amidst the pandemic and post-pandemic. I was caught in the middle of it, but it was still like watching a train wreck. I will never forget July of 2020, when hundreds of people in the fighting game community as well as the cosplay community were hit with various allegations. I got tired of seeing all of it so I went on blackout for about a month. I even ended up unfollowing and unfriending many people as a result. And even near the end of 2021 when that one Mesa convention in January got exposed, I wanted to bring some light to it by addressing the issues with cons and the safety of minors, but to no avail. After all of that, I was left asking myself, "why? Why all of this madness? Couldn't there have been another way, or better yet, a better time?" It seems like it will never stop. But oh man, I'm sorry you had to go through all that, and I'm glad you're still here and still thriving. If anything, you have been such an amazing person and I always look forward to seeing you at cons, and I love your work. I whole-heartedly agree with you on that last part. I joined the cosplay community because I wanted to meet new friends with similar interests, and maybe learn some new things. We can't let this type of behavior run rampant in the community anymore.

@romanovballcosplay

2 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for sharing! this means a lot❤️ I’m so glad that others see the absurdity of cancel culture and I hope with time it will be a problem of the past.

As someone who is very left-wing, I'll just say this. While I may NOT agree with your views (if you're still conservative or right wing), I still don't think you deserved that horrible amount of harassment either. Even if you were wrong, they should've educated you the RIGHT way instead of just blindly witchhunting you without even giving you a chance to learn. To be honest, I feel like regardless of political views, whether one is left or right, nobody's immune to being canceled. Cancel culture affects everyone no matter what. And to be fair, when it comes to politics in general, people are very performative. Like obviously nothing wrong with being progressive, advocating or politically correct (I am after all) but like I feel like there are people who are just performative and pretending to act all that just for the sake of brownie points. Like they don't truly care about being progressive or advocacy, they just wanna desperately show how "good" they are. I just think that a person who truly cares about issues that maginalized groups and minorities have would encourage and teach anyone who may not be fully educated, and not just attack them blindly. Just like they say, good people don't brag or boast about how good you are. Having a belief of any kind or doing a couple of good things doesn't make you better than anyone. Anyone can be a bad person, doesn't matter your race, gender, religion, etc. I wouldn't say politics are the real issue, it's the obsession of being popular and clout that's the real issue. I think some people exploit very serious and sensitive topics like politics, global conflicts morality, or dangerous situations (like SA, predatory behavior) just to get popular or to ruin someone's reputation out of pure malice. And it does more harm than good. Like with the Inquisitor Ghost situation. Those people only wanted to make those allegations because they hated him. Ppl like that are the reason why it's gotten so harder for REAL victims of SA, grooming, and pedophilia, to come forward. It's like "the boy who cried wolf" effect. And just because statistics say that false allegations "don't happen often" doesn't mean we shouldn't prioritize them nor brush them off and downplay them. They don't only effect random innocent people, but also harm REAL victims because like I said, it makes it much harder for them to come out when something like that actually does happen. Tbh it's also the reason why people get so insecure when it comes to having haters in general. Like nothing wrong with not vibing with someome or disliking them, but going out of your way to tarnish their reputation and life just because you don't like them for whatever reason is just really horrendous. You have to have a really twisted mind to do that. So I don't blame anyone who gets anxious with the idea of having haters, because it's not really because what others think, it's actually because of what others are capable of doing to you.

Woah, that is harsh and brutal, someone willing to go out of their way just to dehumanize someone because of their political views - and to a then-minor, no less. Cancel Culture isn't just in cosplay, but other things such as KZread and other social media; I've only seen one side of it after watching one episode from "The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder", not to mention a plotline in the third season of Netflix's "Aggretsuko" anime deals with a similar issue (I won't explain due to spoilers). I've personally never had to deal with 'cancel culture' (only seeing it in those aforementioned shows), but long before I was a cosplayer, I was severely bullied in Middle School (early 2010s) because I was, well, 'not normal'; while it didn't get physical or anything like you went through, my parents had to take matters into their own hands because the school principal at the time only gave my tormentors a mere slap on the wrist (this happened multiple times and was getting worse) - even though there were many other students who were also bullied; even one acquaintance of mine had to transfer to a catholic school due to the bullying and another classmate of mine was bullied to the point he was considering taking his own life (he's okay, now; but I still resent the principal for not taking more stringent approaches to my issues). This was especially during the time that s&!c!des that were resulted from bullying and cyberbullying were becoming increasingly common - at such a time students had to take a questionnaire twice a year that asks questions regarding their mental wellbeing. I still have lingering issues from the bullying, even as an adult. One thing I would suggest for future videos such as this one is to include a "Content warning" when discussing difficult topics such as s&!c!de harassment, etc.; resources for mental health support in discussions of sensitive topics can be a thoughtful suggestion to ensure your viewers' wellbeing is considered. Other than that, very informative video on a difficult subject. I understood you mentioned that you did regret having to create such a video, even if it meant stirring the pot for something like this. Thank you for sharing your personal experience(s) and thoughts on cancel culture. I do believe it's important to raise awareness about these issues.

@romanovballcosplay

3 ай бұрын

Thank you so much for sharing your story! I’m glad my video is connecting people and we can help find a solution.

wtf is wrong with people??? you were a kid :O