We are going to try and tell this story in some tweets. Here is what we know.
On January 3, writer/editor/columnist Gustavo Arellano tweeted this:
More @GustavoArellano news: I’m now editor at large for @REMEZCLA, tasked w/recruiting more writers to cover Southwest and other uncovered raza regions! PITCH ME NOW!!!!
— GustavoArellano (@GustavoArellano) January 3, 2018
Initial reaction was generally positive:
There you go! That publication needs writers from the Southwest… Congrats!
— Adriana Maestas (@AdrianaMaestas) January 3, 2018
Congratulations Gustavo!
— Kelly J. Conley (@Khunkel) January 3, 2018
Mazel tov!!! You killing it today
— Julia Wick (@sherlyholmes) January 3, 2018
Gustavo walked into 2018 like: pic.twitter.com/OO3zHmHUgP
— Johnathan Hernandez (@johnathanryan_) January 4, 2018
But not everyone thought it was a smart move:
Guess there goes one publication I’m never pitching to again. Thanks for prioritizing LGBT folks, Black people, and Central Americans @REMEZCLA#BoycottGustavoArellano pic.twitter.com/rqIuMiwXoc
— Queer Xicano Chisme (@QueerXiChisme) January 3, 2018
And we’re reaffirming this because @REMEZCLA was one of the new Latinx sites that claimed to support these ideas too, but now has hired Gustavo Arellano who has consistently been racist, homophobic, and more #BoycottGustavoArellano
— Latinx Geeks (@LatinxGeeks) January 4, 2018
I’m unfollowing @REMEZCLA in solidarity w/ #BoyCottGustavoArellano . Check the hashtag for more.
— Daniel José Camacho (@DanielJCamacho) January 4, 2018
fuck @REMEZCLA and fuck gustavo. stop giving that piece of shit a fucking platform. it’s so obvious that remezcla, with hiring gustavo is cosigning everything he stands for and they obviously don’t give a shit with the dangerous shit he spews. #BoycottGustavoArellano
— stevie nicks’ long lost daughter (@nativexicana) January 3, 2018
Sad to say I unfollowed @REMEZCLA today. But more disappointed in their hiring process. Follow #BoycottGustavoArellano for details.
We deserve a better Latinx platform.— ANGY (@AskAngy) January 4, 2018
Those who didn’t like the move kept referring to some old tweets from Arellano:
How is this not anti-Black and racist? By naming him the Editor at Large, @REMEZCLA is elevating this kind of racism in Latinx communities. I am from the Southwest. This shameful hate does not represent me. #boycottgustavoarellano pic.twitter.com/kUSS21kUvF
— Maria Garcia (@MariaReports) January 4, 2018
@REMEZCLA #BoycottGustavoArellano because many reasons especially this: pic.twitter.com/sA2tOjnA1t
— Jayme (@jayme_) January 4, 2018
Throwback to that time #centralamericantwitter called out Gustavo’s xenophobia toward Central Americans while he was OC Weakly editor and tokenized his employees. Will @REMEZCLA do the same? #BoyCottGustavoArellano https://t.co/hRgy13DO4a
— SalvaCultura ✊ (@SalvaCultura) January 3, 2018
Remezcla’s Twitter lost a couple of hundred followers in a day:
Remezcla has lost 400 followers since #BoycottGustavoArellano from 54,679 to 54,274. pic.twitter.com/vDFxHCR3zr
— SalvaCultura ✊ (@SalvaCultura) January 4, 2018
On Thursday, Remezcla tweeted this:
— REMEZCLA (@REMEZCLA) January 4, 2018
The same day, Arellano tweeted this:
Aaaand I’m leaving @REMEZCLA for @PochoDotCom—more money there! It’s been fun, fam!
— GustavoArellano (@GustavoArellano) January 4, 2018
Some celebrated the move:
Nah but everybody really came through. #BoycottGustavoArellano was a hashtag that arose more than a year ago & at the time it was just like 5 of us calling him out. Stayed that way til yesterday when the hashtag jumped from 40 tweets to at least 240. We all did this ?
— Queer Xicano Chisme (@QueerXiChisme) January 4, 2018
And people who are bad for the culture don’t deserve to be at the helm of the media that represents it. There are plenty of equally, if not more talented Latinx editors capable of filling those shoes. #BoycottGustavoArellano 2/2
— Hot Seasoned Water aka Wet Food aka Soup (@EatWithNia) January 5, 2018
*cackles in Spanish* #BoycottGustavoArellano pic.twitter.com/NTNz1ieNvf
— Andrea Granda (@AndiNatali) January 5, 2018
Nice! Thanks everyone for #BoyCottGustavoArellano https://t.co/bKWoh0EQbb
— ??♂️ (@JotitoDePerris) January 5, 2018
Honestly tho, can’t believe we really pulled the #BoyCottGustavoArellano hashtag through. Good job everyone omg ❤️ (especially @QueerXiChisme )
— ?STAR CHICA? (@tulipcrowns) January 4, 2018
#BoycottGustavoArellano worked and I can’t stop laughing lmao… “See when you do clownery…. the clown comes back to bite” pic.twitter.com/z0RUUZfLNj
— Alexa Esperanza (@ThenLexWasLike) January 4, 2018
“It’s just social media” people keep saying. Well, social media and hashtag activism got a longtime transphobic and anti-Black writer fired because Latinx held one their own accountable for his garbage. Hey, @latimes and @latimesopinion you’re next. #BoycottGustavoArellano https://t.co/AK2YbUI3q5
— Chief (@saychieeef) January 4, 2018
There also seems to be a lot of ‘you’re leftist liberalists who are not ready for democracy’
Go ahead and regard the site as trash. #BoycottGustavoArellano wasn’t done for fun, it was Afro & Indigenous Latinxs tired of supremacia blanca speaking over us
— MarX Agabo (@artistmarciax) January 4, 2018
Never ever, underestimate #centralamericantwitter or Central Americans for that matter! #BoycottGustavoArellano was a success @REMEZCLA .
— Martin Pineda (@chevive91) January 4, 2018
#BoycottGustavoArellano all you had to was be a decent human but now you’re fired pic.twitter.com/LOtybqeWe1
— Wilfre (@Wilfreyfrey) January 4, 2018
Some slammed it:
Don't always agree w/ @GustavoArellano but this #BoycottGustavoArellano effort and attacking @REMEZCLA for the audacity to hire a guy who quit rather than lay off reporters has to be the most meta Twitter weirdness of the moment. Glad veteran Latino journalists have opps, period.
— Ernesto Aguilar (@eaXLR) January 4, 2018
Going through the #BoycottGustavoArellano hashtag and the saddest thing is I can find almost zero people actually providing ~evidence~ of these supposedly bad things @GustavoArellano said. It’s all just accusations of bigotry, with zero proof. But, of course, proof isn’t needed.
— Ashley Rae (@Communism_Kills) January 5, 2018
When @REMEZCLA gets beaten by a hashtag. #BoycottGustavoArellano pic.twitter.com/5sfWvRV8n7
— Frank In Las Vegas (@PapiElGuapo) January 4, 2018
This doesn’t make sense IMO. You would’ve gained a whole new world w @GustavoArellano. It also would’ve widened your coverage, which seems to focus on the same topics/artists too often. You could’ve just pressed him on the issues on video/digital & THAT would’ve been novel. https://t.co/HK1pNIkaSQ
— Gina Vergel (@ginavergel7) January 4, 2018
So has @REMEZCLA lost all credibility for hiring & then rescinding their offer to @GustavoArellano ? #advertisingtrumpsintegrity #BoycottGustavoArellano #latism #latinX #latino pic.twitter.com/YKg03NU7c4
— Synbad Ontiveros (@Synbad) January 5, 2018
Bring truly committed to inclusivity means welcoming ALL voices. You don’t see how censorship breeds groupthink and groupthink breeds idiocy and often fascism. So embarrassing and bunk of you.
— Daniel Hernandez (@longdrivesouth) January 4, 2018
Those supporting #BoycottGustavoArellano Hey they boycotted me back in the day. And without me, you wouldn’t be free to tweet your opinions #YoureWelcome #hatersgonnahate #HernandezCase
— Gus Garcia (@Gus_Garcia1954) January 4, 2018
This week I came across perpetually offended, far-leftist Latinx Twitter using this #BoycottGustavoArellano hashtag, and boy are these people insufferable. Saying “blind spot” is now “ableist”? GTFO. pic.twitter.com/xpi4jSD3Bm
— Paulie Joe Wokeson (@InfoWartz) January 6, 2018
I meant to type “wasn’t meant to be offensive.” Context and intent matters, something the #BoycottGustavoArellano crowd doesn’t seem to understand. I’m aware that those that find everything “homophobic”/”transphobic” are also part of this.
— Paulie Joe Wokeson (@InfoWartz) January 6, 2018
I had followed you only because you had hired @GustavoArellano. You’re now unfollowed.
— Paulie Joe Wokeson (@InfoWartz) January 5, 2018
Well at the end of the day, Remezcla lost about 500 net followers after today’s decision and Gustavo gained a net of ~25 pic.twitter.com/VgVbdrYbLZ
— Jose V. (@eseqko) January 5, 2018
@GustavoArellano is arrogant…but not anti-black, anti-indigenous, homophoic, transphobic…all you guys are so off base…just because you all say this is so, it does not make it so. get over yourselves.
— Bel Hernandez (@BelsCOOList) January 6, 2018
And others got philosphical about it:
This whole @REMEZCLA debate with the #BoycottGustavoArellano thing has me thinking that we need a gathering that focuses on the development of democratic media platforms in #Latino #Latina #Latinx #Latin #latin@ communities
— Vilma (@vilmitasaurus) January 5, 2018
This intra-Latinx fight playing out definitely needs coverage/an article. https://t.co/MLThgy0FrN
— Aaron E Sanchez (@1stworldchicano) January 4, 2018
Arellano weighed in a bit more after the decision:
People been at me since 2002, so this is nothing. Armenian genocide-denying Turks were FAR worse–and nowhere near as HILARIOUS https://t.co/iMb1mSMhd8
— GustavoArellano (@GustavoArellano) January 5, 2018
Story of my career, btw: too leftist for some, too conservative for others, too radical for some, too vendido for others. Only constant? Both sides ALWAYS. KEEP. READING. And that’s all a reporter wants, so thanks, y’all! https://t.co/Zjp7csAbKD
— GustavoArellano (@GustavoArellano) January 6, 2018
— GustavoArellano (@GustavoArellano) January 6, 2018
And the context of Arellano’s tweets are showing up:
Makes sense that the manufacturers of fake outrage that came up with #BoycottGustavoArellano are the vile @QueerXiChisme coiner of "shitcanos" and anti-Chicano ageist @_danalvarenga. Here is more context to the pathetically dishonest smears you posted above: pic.twitter.com/v6EiOffICd
— Paulie Joe Wokeson (@InfoWartz) January 7, 2018
And sadly, the campaign against Arellano has crossed the line too:
Bonus 9/8: If there was any question about whether the @Remezcla writer who created #BoycottGustavoArellano did it out of jealousy or not, here's where he attacks Gustavo's Mexican-American Yaqui indigenous wife several months ago:https://t.co/RO9CvEm7oQ
— Latino Script Intros (@LatinoIntros) January 7, 2018
This person is not a good human being. And not very smart either. The Jealousy is Big in this one. pic.twitter.com/pAZ0kFoLU1
— Yo yMisKosas (@Yoymiskosas) January 7, 2018
Just another week in the world of Latino digital media. What do you think?
UPDATE: After we published this piece on Saturday, @QueerXiChisme tweeted this to our account on Sunday:
It would be cool if you didn’t spread this false narrative, that an obvious sock account fabricated, on your huge platforms @julito77 @latinorebels. I didn’t popularize #BoycottGustavoArellano out of jealousy. https://t.co/kVI9xOOXzM pic.twitter.com/vri7mWi2EB
— Queer Xicano Chisme (@QueerXiChisme) January 8, 2018
I guess it’s difficult to hold your friends accountable when they’re being called out. But idk maybe try not painting queer people like jealous trolls? Specially given that I don’t even want to write for mainstream media. @julito77 @latinorebels https://t.co/qwAkgikvlc
— Queer Xicano Chisme (@QueerXiChisme) January 8, 2018
