Joint Statement between ComicBook Debate & ForSnyderCut
DC fandom is one of the most popular, diverse, and universal groups in the world. Fans who don’t speak the same language, hold the same beliefs, or live in the same timezones come together to discuss superheroes, comics, and films from DC. Above all, the fandom does not tolerate racism, sexism, or any form of discrimination. For this reason, it is important for fans to come together and condemn a hateful person for making a mockery of everything these films and characters stand for.
As many know, a major campaign for DC fans has been centered on the release of Zack Snyder’s Cut of Justice League. Early into the film’s release, fans asked WB to release this version of the film to audiences. It was at this point that one fan, Roberto Mata, created a petition to Release the Snyder Cut on Change.org. With a messy first draft, influential voices from campaign stepped in to help. The petition caught fire with the assistance of fans with large platforms coming together to signal boost it and rewrite it to create a professional stand. To this date, the petition has over 177K signatures and serves as proof of a market for this cut.
Aside from extreme unprofessionalism shown to his collaborators like Fiona Zheng, myself (Sheraz Farooqi) & more, Roberto routinely fabricated lies about fans trying to steal attention from him. The breaking point however, was his racist and sexist highjacking of the petition.
After blocking and cutting off all the fans that made his petition successful, Roberto took his platform to a very offensive level. Disgustingly racist, Islamophobic, and sexist remarks were made in his rewrites of the petition. Throughout various “petition updates” that has paragraphs of hateful and Islamophobic rhetoric against Muslims, Roberto also continually made sexist remarks against women, calling them inferior and treating them as such.
A few quotes from his petition updates and social media show his hateful nature. He called the entire faith of Islam as “the most disgusting belief on earth” and a “majority of terrorists.” He also said “Women are not as strong as men and they are more violent and abusive” and “Black people are criminals. Black lives matter and white supremacy are the same.” Simply put, he is racist, sexist, and Islamophobic.
As DC fans and campaigners for the Snyder Cut, none of us condone this behavior and, in fact, see it as a direct insult. As mentioned above, the DC fandom is universal, and many are in the direct line of fire of Mata’s words.
Adding to this, Zack Snyder and his films, something Mata is fond of, don’t ever condone this hatefulness. On the contrary, they speak on the need for inclusion. Islamophobia is something no Snyder film, especially his Superman films, condone. Snyder’s films also treat women with a high standard. The treatment of Lois Lane, Martha Kent, Wonder Woman and more show how his female characters have their own agency and are just as impactful, if not more, than the male characters. No bigotry, sexism, or racism is tolerated by any myself, the co-signers of this statement, Zack Snyder, or the DCEU Fandom.
Despite all of this, we would like to thank Roberto Mata for starting this petition. At this point, it is in the best interests of the DC Fandom to remove our collective support from it. Mata abuses the signatures on his petition with racist “petition updates” directly emailed to all 177K+ signers. I have personally called for his petition to be shut down by going to the link and reporting it for hate speech. By going to his petition, you can scroll down and see “Report a Policy Violation” under the comments. Here you will be able to report it as “Hate Speech.”
We would like to push the fact that Mata does not represent this fandom, the spirit of these film, or its creators. For fans wondering “what’s next?” There are still multiple outlets that continue to support the Snyder Cut campaign. Fiona Zheng’s ForSnyderCut.com continues to be one-stop shop for everything pertaining to the Snyder Cut efforts, and Fiona leads the flag on that front. Tim Yoko and Scott McClellan host The Suicide Squadcast, which has become the leading podcast for DCEU discussions and thoughts; they are also supporters of the Snyder Cut campaign. Finally, as Editor-in-Chief of ComicBook Debate, I lead the platform as it continues to be at the forefront of discussion on superhero movies and Zack Snyder. All in all, this petition was a litmus test to prove support for the Snyder Cut. The campaign for it has grown considerably since then and fans can take the good from it and continue the fight to eventually release the Snyder Cut.
Thank you all for reading.
