Spider-Man: Lotus is an upcoming fan film that is not associated with Marvel or Sony. It’s a crowdfunded project that gained much support from hardcore Spider-Man fans worldwide. Unfortunately, some screenshots of racist and offensive messages were revealed from the film’s lead actor (Warden Wayne) and writer-director (Gavin J. Konop). It’s led to a lot of boycotting of the fan film, which is well-deserved.
It’s quite unfortunate, as the first trailer looks pretty good – Spidey’s costume design looks clean, there’s high-quality CGI and sets, and the soundtrack is movie-esque. Too bad the whole thing got ruined by the film’s leading men.
In this tweet below, you can see the words that lead actor Warden Wayne used in his past Instagram DMs. It’s very explicit, as Wayne – a white male, would make use of the n-word without restraint.
Content Warning // EXTREME Racism
Is this your Spider-Man?? Warden Wayne is so gross, hoping Lotus recasts him. #SpiderManLotus #wardenwayne pic.twitter.com/QLKZw9GR8c
— Thunder (@Thnnnder) June 18, 2022
He did come out and apologize for his remarks, and he used to say those things as a teenager. In his apology, he says, “Years ago when I was in high school, I used to say terrible things. I used offensive language, often homophobic or racially insensitive, casually or in jokes. I am sorry, and I’m ashamed.” Apparently, his friends and the people around him influenced him to act that way. He claims that he’d learned and grown from his past after getting out of his little bubble in a small conservative town in Arkansas.
“I was an immature kid with too much time and no sense of integrity. I was stupid,” Wayne wrote in his apology.
I’ve been wanting to come forward about this for a long time. Please read. pic.twitter.com/kz42egpAs5
— Warden Wayne (@mrwardenwayne) June 19, 2022
Writer-director Gavin J. Konop then got exposed himself for having a history of racist and offensive messages, though the Tweet has since been deleted.
He took to Twitter to publicly address the allegations. He says that all of the Instagram DMs that were screen-recorded were real, but that anything else was fake.
“I do not condone any of the fake screenshots circulating around. I am and always will be one to take accountability for myself and accept where I am wrong; however, many of these are not reflective of the way I currently speak or express myself.”
Regardless of the authenticity of the leaked messages, all of this has tainted the image of Spider-Man: Lotus. Moriah Brooklyn, the actress for MJ in the film, had distanced herself from the project and plans to not promote it in any way. The film’s editor, who goes by the name UltraSargent, also left the project and did not finish the editing for the final trailer.
Twitter has obviously reacted negatively to the whole situation. It’s tragic that the lead actor and the director of the film, and pretty much represent the whole project in a way.
https://twitter.com/ProfessorJFett/status/1539076417442304005?s=20&t=qT9NQsaHll-pM_FoWmQw-g
https://twitter.com/Karbify/status/1538964471116353536?s=20&t=qT9NQsaHll-pM_FoWmQw-g
https://twitter.com/sighsin616/status/1539229188686811142?s=20&t=qT9NQsaHll-pM_FoWmQw-g
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