Google pays tribute after Scooby Doo character Velma ‘comes out’ ahead of new film

Velma is officially a lesbian in the new film ‘Trick or Treat Scooby Doo!’ following years of ambiguity about the character’s sexuality

Maanya Sachdeva
Thursday 06 October 2022 09:15 BST
Comments
Velma in ‘Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!’
Velma in ‘Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo!’ (Warner Bros/ screenshot)

Your support helps us to tell the story

This election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.

The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.

Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.

Google has celebrated Scooby Doo character Velma Dinkley officially coming out as lesbian with a joyful animation.

On Wednesday (5 October), Prime Video released a clip of Velma’s first encounter with her crush, villain Coco Diablo, in the newest iteration of the beloved franchise titled Trick or Treat Scooby Doo!.

The video quickly went viral, as fans celebrated the first confirmation of Velma’s sexuality in a Scooby Doo movie – despite it being widely acknowledged by creatives such as James Gunn, who wrote the earlier live-action movies.

To mark the moment Velma officially came out, Google engineered a LGBT+-themed animation that plays whenever the terms “Velma,” “Velma Scooby-Doo,” “Velma Dinkley” or even just “Dinkley” are entered in the search bar.

The prompts cause a burst of confetti and LGBT+ flags to cascade over the Google search results page.

A burst of confetti and LGBT+ flags casecade over the Google search results page for ‘Velma Dinkley’
A burst of confetti and LGBT+ flags casecade over the Google search results page for ‘Velma Dinkley’ (Google)

In 2020, Gunn tweeted that he had “tried” to make Velma a visible lesbian in the live-action movies, but claimed that the studio “just kept watering it down & watering it down, becoming ambiguous (the version shot), then nothing (the released version) & finally having a boyfriend (the sequel)”.

“In 2001, Velma was explicitly gay in my initial script,” he added.

Released on Tuesday (4 October), Trick or Treat Scooby-Doo! is out now on Prime Video.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in