Producer Tony Cervone reveals Velma was going to become romantically involved with Marcie Fleach if they had more time.
Donald PadgettThe producer of the animated series Scooby Doo: Mystery Incorporated revealed on Instagram the character of Velma Dinkley was a lesbian in his 2010 animated retelling of the 1969 cartoon classic. Tony Cervone made the revelation in response to a comment on a picture he posted of Velma and fellow character Marcie Fleach against a background of pride colors.
"I've said this before, but Velma in Mystery Incorporated is not bi. She's gay," the Cervone said in response to a fan of the franchise who was apparently triggered that Velma’s lesbianism went against “the canon” of Scooby Doo lore.
Velma has been an LGBTQ+ icon since the original Scooby Doo: Where Are You? animated series debuted in 1969. The show ran for two seasons on Saturday mornings and featured the hijinks of a group of teenagers and one lovable Great Dane, who drive around together in a psychedelic-painted van solving outlandish and mildy spooky crimes. Velma is portrayed as the ‘brains’ of the group, as well as the strongest.
Cervone’s Mystery Incorporated ran from 2010 to 2013. He had hoped to develop the relationship between Velma and Marcie, but an early cancellation meant the couple did not have “time to act on their feelings.”
The fan in question had complained that simply because Velma and Marci “wear similar stuff doesn’t mean there (sic) dating” and a relationship between the two would be heretical because “Velma likes shaggy that’s the canon.”
“We always planned on Velma acting a little off and out of character while she was dating Shaggy because that relationship was wrong for her and she had unspoken difficulty with the why,” Cervone explained of that relationship.
Whether the user is upset or not, Velma's sexuality is queer and, according to Cervone, the haters are just going to have to get used to it.
“You can not like it,” he said. “But this was our intention.”
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