(CNS News) – Scooby-Doo’s renowned fictional character Velma Dinkley is portrayed as a lesbian in a newly released film from Warner Bros.
Clips from the animated Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! released digitally on Oct. 4 and flooded social media with scenes of Velma showing interest in a female character named Coco Diablo. (In English, Coco Diablo translates to Coconut Devil.)
At the sight of Coco, Velma mentally noted that she has an “amazing turtleneck,” “incredible glasses,” and that Coco is “obviously brilliant” and “loves animals.” Followed by Velma’s internal thoughts is the external blush of her cheeks with her famous catchphrase “jinkies.”
OMG LESBIAN VELMA FINALLY CANON CANON IN THE MOVIES LETS GOOOOOO pic.twitter.com/0ilx2uid1q
— Trin 🎃 (@MythicalLlamaXO) October 3, 2022
Another clip that surfaced on Twitter showed accompanying character Daphne Blake confronting Velma’s obvious crush on Coco – with Velma replying, “Okay who am I kidding, I’m crushing big time Daphne. What do I do? What do I say?”
Also here’s the part where she actually admits it 🥲🥲 pic.twitter.com/nyA3toBz80
— Trin 🎃 (@MythicalLlamaXO) October 4, 2022
Prior to the release of the film, fans speculated about Velma’s sexuality, which dated back to the 2002 live-action Scooby Doo and even through her relationship with Shaggy Rogers in Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated. The newly released film aligned with their previous speculations.
“This confirmation of Velma’s queerness explicitly on the screen has been a long time coming, with a history of queer coding, cut scenes and spiked queer plot lines consistently disappointing LGBTQ+ fans,” PinkNews reported.
Previous writers of Scooby-Doo claimed that Velma was written as a lesbian for a long time, but that her sexuality was never showcased on screen due to pushback from production studios.
James Gunn, screenwriter for the live-action Scooby Doo movie, said in a later deleted tweet in 2020, “In 2001 Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” he wrote. “But the studio just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel).”
Gunn wrote both the live-action film and the sequel that debuted in 2004, which gave Velma a boyfriend and erased any trace of same-sex attraction.
Tony Cervone, supervising producer of Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated, posted a photo in June 2020 of characters Velma and Marcie Fleach with the word “pride” below them. The caption read, “I obviously don’t represent every version of Velma Dinkley, but I am one of the key people that represents this one. We made our intentions as clear as we could ten years ago. Most of our fans got it. To those that didn’t, I suggest you look closer. There’s no new news here.”
Scooby Doo, originally developed by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, first debuted as a Saturday morning cartoon in 1969. Since then it has been adapted into TV shows, films, and comics, following the lives of a group of teenage friends and their Great Dane (Scooby-Doo) while they solve countless crimes and mysteries. The main characters include Velma, Daphne, Shaggy, Scooby-Doo and Fred Jones.