An unsettling rumour has been making the rounds about a character in The Powerpuff Girls, with claims that one of the writers inserted himself in the story as a romantic lead for one of the girls. Only thing is… that’s not what actually happened.
Still: YouTube
A thread on 4chan, which made the rounds on Tumblr and Twitter this week, claimed that Powerpuff Girls writer Jake Goldman created the character of Jared Shapiro, a nerdy student and theatre buff whom Blossom has a crush on. The character looks like Goldman and is voiced by him, so critics said he was self-inserting himself into a romantic situation with an underage character. Some have been overrunning the Powerpuff Girls Wiki with negative comments in response, calling for the show (in its second season) to be cancelled.
Only thing is, Goldman wasn’t responsible for Jared — at least according to the network. Cartoon Network spokesperson Jean Woo told us that the character of Jared Shapiro was created by writer Haley Mancini and co-executive producer Bob Boyle, and Mancini was the principal story writer for the character. The network didn’t clarify why Goldman was brought on to voice the character, but it’s not uncommon for animated shows to include their writers or artists in the show — like Pendleton Ward, who voices Lumpy Space Princess on his show Adventure Time. Plus, former Powerpuff Girls storyboard artist Grace Kraft wrote on a Twitter thread that the artists modelled Jared after Goldman because he fit the character, and figured it’d be fun if he voiced him too.
The artists thought it would be funny to model a nerdy love interest after him and then because of that figured it was fitting for him to VA
— Grace Kraft (@GraceKraft) May 28, 2017
I’m not defending the show, just explaining stuff and trying to stop people from spreading rumors of Jake being a creep like wildfire.
— Grace Kraft (@GraceKraft) May 29, 2017
There are those who still have concerns about an adult writer on the series voicing a character who has romantic ties to one of his underage characters, and that’s totally understandable. Even though kids’ characters on cartoons are usually voiced by adults, it can be uncomfortable knowing that someone who’s shaping the story is also voicing a character who’s affected by the story in a way that some find disconcerting — as shown in episodes like the recent “A Star Is Blossom“, which featured a shirtless Jared in one of Blossom’s fantasies. Plus, there have been some other problematic issues with the show, including an episode where two of the girls twerked (which Mancini and Goldman created the story for, as they typically do, but didn’t write).
Putting a writer in a romantic storyline with an underage character may not have been the smartest choice for The Powerpuff Girls, but it wasn’t something Goldman did himself. Correlation doesn’t always equal causation.
Comments
12 responses to “This Creepy Powerpuff Girls Theory Isn’t True, Thank God”
I have no words for this.
Even with this theory allegedly being false, the show has a myriad of issues.
You have got to be freaking kidding me.
Some people need to start applying a little logic when they are reading on the Internet.
Failing that, do some bloody research.
Yeah, but he still wrote the episodes where he and Blossom were basically flirting, save for the episode ‘Snow Month’.
Just because he didn’t design the character doesn’t mean he didn’t ship an OC of himself with Blossom.
It doesn’t mean he did or didn’t….
The last line of the article says it all, correlation doesn’t equal causation.
Personally I wonder about the mindset of the accusers before the writers, because personally I don’t live vicariously through my characters or those of others so I see no harm done given the evidence at hand.
For example, the automatic assumption he is “shipping” himself.
The idea that he has imposed his own sick will on a child like effigy has already been decided, promoting the image of some sicko whacking off in a dimly lit animation studio.
Did it even occur to people that he might not have an emotional or sexual attachment to that or other characters? That maybe he gets a light hearted nod for his efforts, including a chance to cross the floor and try his hand at doing a voice over?
Did it even matter to consider these options?
So like I said, I wonder about the mindset of the accusers before the writers.
The way some people talk about the characters, it’s as though they refer to real people.
I am so glad I stayed away from the new Powerpuff Girls. From Tara Strong not asked to return for Bubbles, to hearing about the twerking, and now to this… Geez…
After reading the article I want to believe the official response (as I do not want to believe an actual show-writer would do a self-insert like this), but it’s still bizarre. The official credits list Jake Goldman as the only writer, with Julia Vickerman & Cheyenne Curtis as responsible for the story, yet the official response says the character was made by Haley Mancini & Bob Boyle, with the former being the writer? Huh?
Even if they make this public and announce to the whole world about this, its too late, the damage is already done. Even if he wasn’t involved in the writing of the episode the image says it all.
Not many are going to research to see what really happened its already over social media and a lot of people have seen it.
I think its about time Cartoon network’s Reboot team reevaluate themselves and just stop with the we don not give a damn behaviour like with Teen titans go. THIS is literally the you have gone too far moment.
And if he was innocent that just means cartoon network just ruined someone’s life, hes been labelled and everyone heard about this, he may not even get a new job or get called out at expos because of what cartoon network did to him
This is a non story if I ever saw one.
There’s plenty of things in the world that call for *actual* outrage. This is ridiculous.
Awww, but easy outrage fabricated on nonsense is a lot simpler.
I also see the customary, four tweets, are present.
May I remind everyone that the professor was never trying to make super heroes, he was trying to make the perfect little girl in his basement and the PPG were an accidental outcome. Think about it for a second, the premise of the show is a man trying to make little girls in his basement…
ok thats messed up when you put it like that
Guys! Pendleton Ward voices LSP who often crushes on Finn and sort of looks Ward if you squint and use your imagination. Could he really trying to be doing some sick and twisted self insert fantasy about Finn? We need Kotaku to investigate!