Betty Will Be Openly Gay And Voiced By Natalie Morales In the ‘Rugrats’ Reboot
Credit: Getty Images; Paramount+
In case you haven’t heard, “Rugrats” is being rebooted on Paramount Plus. And with the reboot have come a few changes. First of all, this time around, the show’s animation will be computer-generated instead of the previous hand-drawn style. Not only that, but a few other aspects of the show are being updated as well.
Recently, Cuban-American actress Natalie Morales revealed that she is now the voice of Phil and Lil’s mom, Betty. And to make things more exciting, this time around, Betty will be an openly gay single mom.
The openly queer Morales explained to the AV Club her attraction to the role of Betty. She believes that Betty is a positive icon for the LGBTQ community–and especially young people. “Betty is a single mom with her own business who has twins and still has time to hang out with her friends and her community,” she said. “I think it’s just so great because examples of living your life happily and healthily as an out queer person is just such a beacon for young queer people who may not have examples of that.
“And yeah, Betty is a fictional cartoon, but even cartoons were hugely influential for me as a kid,” she said. “If I’d been watching ‘Rugrats’ and seen Betty casually talking about her ex-girlfriend, I think at least a part of me would have felt like things might be okay in the future.”
“Anyone who watched the original show may have had an inkling Betty was a member of the alphabet mafia,” Morales said.
While the original voice actors for the babies will be back, the adults will be played by different actors. “Rugrats” producers thought, this time around, the show should showcase new talent for the voices of the adults. For example, Nicole Byer will be playing the voice of Susie’s mother.
“First of all, we have all the original babies back, all the original cast back, which we are thrilled to have” said Nickelodeon President Brian Robbins. “…We thought there was an opportunity for new exciting comedic voices who grew up watching and being fans of the show and let them do cameos.”
For the most part, “Rugrats” fans seem over the moon that Betty’s identity as a gay woman is now cannon.
People took to Twitter to express their excitement.
Some people thought that Betty was always an openly gay woman.
Of course, there were a few critics who thought that they were reducing Betty into a “stereotype”.
Betty was a great character because she was a rough and butch lady that didn't land into the stereotype that all rough and butch ladies must be lesbians. They have ruined that now and have made the character ironically kind of homophobic.
— I am the Robglogabgalab (@Strepcryptor) May 26, 2021
However people feel about the change in Betty’s character, I think there’s one thing we can all universally agree with: the updated animation style is not ideal.
Either way, we know we’ll be tuning in! “Rugrats” will premiere on Paramount+ on May 27th.
