Augusta Quirk/ IFC
Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen in IFC's 'Portlandia'
The speciality bookshop that inspired the one in the IFC series has put up a sign that says, "F— Portlandia.'
A Portland bookstore is saying "F— Portlandia."
The specialty bookshop In Other Words that has served as the inspiration (and actual filming location) for the fictional one in the IFC comedy has posted a sign on its door that reads, "F— Portlandia." In a blog post, the bookstore staff reveals it has decided to cut ties with the sketch series starring Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen, citing the "trans-antagonistic attitude" and "queer antagonism" they claim the show perpetuates as reasons why.
The establishment's website offers a deeper explanation of why the In Other Words "community," as they put it, has agreed to discontinue their relationship with the comedy. "'LOL Fred Armisen in a wig and a dress' is a deeply shitty joke whose sole punchline throws trans femmes under the bus by holding up their gender presentation for mockery and ridicule," reads the letter posted online. "In a world where trans femmes – particularly Black trans women – are being brutalized and murdered on a regular basis for simply daring to exist, dude in a dress jokes are lazy, reactionary, and actively harmful. They’re also just straight up not funny."
The staff also contends that the show's production mistreated the In Other Words employees, left the bookstore a mess and forced their neighboring shops to close down and lose business for a day without any warning. Additionally, they point out that being featured in the series doesn't actually make them any money as the small flat fee they're paid for each episode isn't enough to outweigh the profits lost by having to close down for filming.
The bookstore's blog post also call out the series, set to return for its seventh season in 2017, for "transmisogyny," "gentrification," "devaluation of feminist discourse" and "racism." Of the latter, they claim the series doesn't portray any black people and only has a few of people of color represented. "Portland is white but it’s not that damn white," the post quips.
Not only do they blame billboards featuring Armisen and Brownstein for "fueling mass displacement" in Portland and turning the city into "something twee and whimsical for the incoming technocrat hordes," they also claim that the production crew once asked In Other Words to remove a Black Lives Matter sign they had in the window. The staff, of course, refused.
When asked about the issue, IFC had no comment.
Portlandia
