It was her cinematic coming-out party.
The just-released “Rugrats” revival series has fans in a tizzy after confirming what many had believed all along — that Phil and Lil’s mom, Betty DeVille, is gay.
The not-so-surprising news was broken by Natalie Morales, who voices the recent LGBTQ inductee in the Nickelodeon series, which dropped May 27 on Paramount+.
“Anyone who watched the original show may have had an inkling Betty was a member of the alphabet mafia,” referring to LGBTQ, Morales spilled in an interview with the AV Club. The thespian, who identifies as queer, explained that in the new “Rugrats” iteration, “Betty is a single mom with her own business who has twins and still has time to hang out with her friends and her community.”
That there would be a lesbian character on the new show was hinted at late last year by Didi Pickles’ original voice actor, Melanie Chartoff. But she didn’t specify which one would fly the rainbow flag, Newsweek reported.
Now that Betty is canonically out of the closet, many fans of the original Nickelodeon series are over the moon — albeit none too shocked — about her identity reveal.
“In the original, I knew she was gay but was closeted but now she is openly gay!” gushed one “Rugrats” die-hard.
“‘Betty Deville will be gay in Rugrats reboot’ as if she wasn’t already a gay icon,” wrote another
.
One commenter added, “I mean come on. I was four or five when Rugrats first came out, and the coding was so loud and clear that even I understood what Betty’s deal was.”
However, others lambasted the reveal that Betty is gay, which they viewed as indicative of cosmetic progressivism.
“Making Betty gay on Rugrats is just performative wokeness and I’m so tired,” fumed one naysayer. “It was already subversive to have a woman who was not traditionally feminine married to more effeminate male/SAHD. Erasing this is not nearly as progressive as making a new openly gay character would be.”
Another detractor postulated that Betty’s homosexuality leaves no room for Phil and Lil’s father on the show. “Betty is now gay, fine, but WTF?” they griped. “Kill off PHIL & LIL’S DAD HOWARD? If they’re going to go with stereotypes then make Howie gay too. Two gay parents out, not another dead parent.”
Morales, for one, views the change as inspirational to the LGBTQ community.
“I think it’s just so great, because examples of living your life happily and healthily as an out queer person is just such a beacon for young queer people who may not have examples of that,” exclaimed the actress. “And yeah, Betty is a fictional cartoon, but even cartoons were hugely influential for me as a kid, and if I’d been watching ‘Rugrats’ and seen Betty casually talking about her ex-girlfriend, I think at least a part of me would have felt like things might be OK in the future.”
The “Rugrats” revival marks the nostalgic Nick series’ first reimagining since it went off the air in 2004 after a 13-year run. The new series features the original voice cast along with new actors.
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