Hollywood has apparently not learned its lessons from the great DEI campaigns of 2020-2024, as producer and actor Quinta Brunson is set to star as cartoon character Betty Boop in an upcoming feature film.
The Boop character, which debuted nearly 100 years ago in 1930, was conceived as a vampish, white, jazz-age flapper for the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. Betty Boop went on to appear in some 90 theatrical cartoons between 1930 and 1939, and has since been a constantly popular character for film and merchandise sales.
But according to Variety, Fleischer Studios’ Mark Fleischer — grandson of the studio’s founder, Max — is now set to race swap his own character from white to black with a proposed feature film produced by and starring Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson.
The race swapping of Betty Boop comes on the heels of years of Hollywood casting actors who are black, gay, immigrant, or some combination thereof as characters who have traditionally been European. News of this project coincides with backlash over the race-swapping of Euro characters in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, a film adaptation of the 2,800-year-old Greek epic.
The Boop film is reportedly set to follow the cartoon character’s creator, cartoon mogul Max Fleischer, as he worked to bring Boop to the screen and features the character taking on a life of her own as she becomes one of America’s first animated icons.
“Betty Boop is one of our nation’s most beloved cartoon characters, yet somehow still remains pleasantly niche,” Brunson said in a statement about the project. “She has had a quiet but undeniable impact on culture for nearly a century. After Erin and I met with Mark and learned more about his grandfather’s creation of Betty, I realized there was a much deeper story to tell. One that could be explored in a way that feels refreshing, subversive, and timeless, much like Betty herself.”
“When Quinta first approached me with the unique concept of a movie about the relationship of my grandfather, Max Fleischer, and his creation, Betty Boop, I was breathtaken,” Mark Fleischer added. “Quinta so embodies Betty’s love of life, intelligence, humor, sassiness and compassion that the relationship between her as Betty and Max burst into life at its mere mention.”
Many people have falsely claimed that Max Fleischer’s inspiration for the Boop character was a 1920s black entertainer named “Baby Esther” who reportedly originated the use of the word “boop” in her scat-styled performances. PBS was responsible for pushing this false claim with the inclusion of the information in a 2021 story about black entertainers across history. PBS later addressed the false claim and clarified that its earlier notation was incorrect and that there is no evidence whatever that Fleischer knew of the existence of Baby Esther when he created Betty Boop or that he took the word “boop” from her.
Baby Esther, whose name was Esther Lee Jones, reportedly originated the use of the word “boop” in her scat performances. Jones died in obscurity sometime in the 1930s, no one is exactly sure when.
However, Jones was seen in the 1920s by white singer Helen Kane, who also began using “boop” in her songs. Kane is best known for the 1928 hit, “I Want to be Loved By You,” in which she sings “boop, boop-a-do” after the eponymous title phrase.
Kane sued Fleischer Studios in 1932, claiming that Fleischer stole her persona for the Betty Boop character, but lost her suit when the court discovered that she took her “boop” trademark from Baby Esther.
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