It’s 2020; Can We Just Let 'Scooby-Doo’s Velma Be Gay Already?

Director James Gunn recently revealed that his original script for 2002's Scooby-Doo would have made fans "lesbian dreams" come true by featuring an "explicitly gay" Velma, which was nixed by the studio. Even worse, the 2004 sequel shoehorns in a male love interest who's sadly never revealed to be a grizzled amusement park owner wearing a Seth Green mask.

But this isn't exactly news, this came up in the news before the film's release -- and the details don't exactly sound dreamy. According to early reports, the original script featured a scene where Fred leers at Daphne, followed by a joke where Velma is, "ogling her, too." Velma and Daphne also, "shared a comic kiss," that was ultimately cut from the story. So, it seemingly wasn't that Velma was a nuanced queer character as much as she was the subject a few cheap gags; the kind of weak "exclusively gay moment" Disney has been rightly criticized for in recent years.

Still, that would have been the most progress we've seen for the character since she first appeared on TV in 1969. While the 2010 series Scooby-Doo: Mystery Incorporated hinted that Velma was gay, according to the show's creator, it was canceled before they had a chance to make it official. Then in 2018, there was a prequel TV movie just about Mystery Inc's two female members -- presumably, because CGI great danes are friggin' expensive. Fans implored the filmmakers of Daphne & Velma to make the leads "more than just platonic" but it frustratingly never happened.

The recent Scoob! seemingly side-stepped the issue altogether. Which is crazy. It's 2020, can't we have a gay Velma already? Modern animation is packed to the brim with LGBTQ cartoon characters, why can't the Scooby-Doo franchise catch up? This might be the most ludicrous part of a franchise predicated on hippies and a talking dog roaming the country in a filthy van exposing elaborate hoaxes.

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