Last week, Netflix finally dropped the first stills from their live-action take on Cowboy Bebop, the beloved anime. Everyone looked swank! John Cho, playing hitman-turned-bounty hunter Spike Spiegel, not only has that already-beloved hair, but also some sweet duds. Mustafa Shakir, as spaceship captain Jet Black, looks badass. Daniella Pineda, as con artist Faye Valentine, has a kind of Han Solo vibe. Anyway, guess which one the more toxic strain of fans singled out for derision
On the show, Faye has always been a male fantasy: low-cut tops, matching shorts, naked suspenders, white ankle boots — you get the idea. Not in the Netflix version. This did not sit well with some of the show’s fans. And Pineda decided to call them out.
“First, I wanted to apologize to the fans that I did not anatomically match the Faye Valentine character,” Pineda said in a video she uploaded to Instagram Stories. “Six foot, double-D sized breasts, two-inch waist. You know, they looked everywhere for that woman and they couldn’t find her, it was kinda weird. So they just went with my short ass — I know, am I right”
She also addressed complaints that a woman of Mexican descent was playing a Japanese character: “You know, there was talk about like, ‘Can we put Daniella in a time machine and maybe give her different parents so she has different genetic information to make her look better’ It proved to be too complicated.”
And she addressed her outfit. “You know, we tried, but doing stunts in tissue paper, things disappear, they rip, sometimes just got lost—” she continues before the edit jumps to another clip. “Anyway, like I was saying, that original costume, they made a couple of them, but like I said, they got sort of slurped up in my various crevices, never to be retrieved again, so we needed to build something that could withstand the test of time.”
Will this teach that genre of fan a lesson Probably not. But a lot of people had Pineda’s back.
— javier grillo-marxuach (@OKBJGM) August 28, 2021
If you actually paid attention to what Daniella Pineda is saying, Shes actually shitting on people like you who get angry that a portrayal of a woman isnt over sexualised. https://t.co/tco36By9In
— Barra | BLM (@ThatBmanGuy) August 27, 2021
hell yes girl tell them
also on what planet is that shitting on fans https://t.co/qoUIp0fx2y
— Allegra Clark (@SimplyAllegra) August 27, 2021
She's shitting on you losers that only care about looks goddamn https://t.co/VipYat9Utx
— General MastaMunsta (@MunstaMasta) August 27, 2021
lol this rocks. Genuinely always cool to do some light dunking on the fans, healthy to show some contempt, only way to interact https://t.co/zlS3uJQRWs
— Mr. Chau (@Srirachachau) August 27, 2021
Some though that dropping a savage retort to critics, dripping with sarcasm, sounds very Faye Valentine.
— Jaime Rebanal (@firewalkwjaime) August 27, 2021
The Cowboy Bebop redo will hit Netflix on November 19.