I am glad the Riverdale show is over. To the people gushing about how the show was nonsensical, special & amazing, I would like to remind (or tell) that Jughead is canonically asexual aromantic.

There was initial enthousiasm in the aroace community at the annoncement of this show in 2016 & early 2017, especially because the actor Cole Sprouse was initially x supportive of an asexual Jughead, had read the comics & claimed to have respect for the decades-long original material indicating that Jughead was aroace (even before it was official confirmed in 2016 in the Chip Zdarsky comics). After those initial statements of support, Cole Sprouse never mentioned it again, as far as I know (& I looked) after 2017.

In 2017, there was a months-long campaign, with the hashtag #AroAceJugheadOrBust. We kept up hope, especially because at the time, it would have been the biggest piece of aroace representation ever seen on television, in a mainstream show no less. And we weren't hoping for something out of reach, they were adapting a comic where the best friend of the lead was consistently depicted as aroace, for decades. And we were told we would get a fair portrayal of the character.

Time passes, the show aired, Jughead initiated a kiss with Betty & Jughead got a girlfriend. At some point someeone involved in the show straight up said (I would cite the source but I don't remember well & I didn't bookmark it at the time, sorry) that the reason they gave the character a love interest was that otherwise it didn't make for a compelling or interesting story (I don't remember precisely, sorry).

I stewed in that a long time, thinking about how I'm one of the most interesting person I know, being aroace isn't boring, if they can't have a character being interesting without giving them a romance plot, that's them being terrible at their job...

When all our hopes were dashed, other people, many queer people started to show up & then like that show. Rooting for it. I saw praise for queer representation for bi or gay characters, but I didn't see any mention of the straight-washing of one of the main characters & how maybe some solidarity was warranted (how any potential good gay or bi rep in a minor character wouldn't make up for the straight washing of a main character).

As an aroace person, I wanted the show to fail, for the widespread outrage of the queer community condamning straight-washing to underwhelm any positive review.

That didn't happened this time. I hope the next time people try to erase aromantic or asexual identities of fictional characters in popular media, things are different & we do get that solidarity & support. I hope things get better.

[ID: The Bugs Bunny in a tuxedo meme, edited to say, “I wish all ace people a very pleasant beating up riverhell jughead.” The words “ace people” have an asexual flag gradient. END ID]

sometimes i think how how they took this erasure and shoved the characters into a relationship to make them seem more relatable, to make them seem more “normal”. when one character was literally a vampire for christ sake. & the fandoms participated more in this erasure by supporting those ships.

sometimes i think about how revolutionary these shows could’ve been if they decided to not go through with the erasure. and the missed opportunities because of it.

so many people found comfort in these two characters, for some of us these were the first aroace characters we found in a mainstream book/comic & many of us were excited to finally see ourselves represented on screen. only to faced with erasure and more aphobia for speaking out.

AROACE JUGHEAD FOREVER 💚💜🖤