The new Prime Video series “League of Their Own,” inspired by the original 1992 film “A League Of Their Own,” has been received with rapture by binge-watchers all over the world but has also been met with derision from a portion of humans who are upset about Ye Olde Lesbian Agenda. That’s right, “A League Of Their Own” actually intended to represent the league as it truly was: crawling with lesbians. As a member of the queer community and a big fan of queer history, I find this thrilling but, predictably enough, there are humans out there who feel differently and have taken their rage to the world’s top rage receptacle: internet review boards. The one-star reviews section for A League Of Their Own is a real cesspool of human intolerance: people complaining about there being Black characters at all, people complaining that racism is addressed in the story, people complaining about lesbians, the word “woke,” ladies doth protesting too much, people complaining about swear words, and people complaining about historical inaccuracies in a way that often disregards actual history and/or what was actually portrayed on the show. Also, a lot of really sharp Eagle Eyes who want to just let us know that Janis Joplin songs are from the 60s, not the 40s. Okay?
Below please witness excerpts from homophobic reviews left on the Amazon Prime Video page for of “A League Of Their Own,” ripped mercilessly out of context but mostly presented in their entirety. I have edited some of these comments for clarity, grammar and spelling, but also sometimes left errors intact for artistic reasons.
1. “Wanted baseball, got gay. Not for me.”
2. “A league of inspirational women breaking barriers or a league of sexually confused/ lesbian women?”
3. “As a woman who played baseball throughout my life I find the impression that all women who play baseball are lesbians is highly offensive.”
4. “We stomached 2 episodes. Lesbians were the theme. The left ruins everything.”
5. “Seems like it was written by nasty old men who are more interested in seeing women make out with each other rather than women in empowerment like the original movie.”
6. “The main character is a feminist who immorally sends a letter to her husband. Garbage scene, Hollywood always has to have the modern woman who “doesn’t need a man.”
7. “Knew this would not be like the old movie, BUT did not expect this to be about homosexuality and cheating on spouses.”
8. “Women in the 1940s were conservative and respectful. This series tried to make them into whores and lesbians!”
9. “There are millions of women athletes and those into all kinds of sports who are not gay. Just as all professional male dancers (i.e. ballet, contemporary…) are not gay.”
10. “I’m so damned tired of Hollywood shoving homosexuality down our throats as if 75% of all relationships are homosexual ones. Although Homosexuality is less than 1% of the world’s population, Hollywood makes everyone think that 7 out of every 10 people are either already homosexual or have the propensity to be.”
11. “…[they make the] women who were, in actual life, really fine, dedicated ballplayers look like a bunch of sex addicted sluts.”
12. “When you push identity politics into a series this is what you get.
Then add the LGBQXYZ1234#$% and you get this mess.”
13. “Girls can have deep friendships that don’t become sexual. A show about that would be far more refreshing.“
14. “I wish women could be represented and sports movies like men. Those movies are always about the love of the game, not their sexuality.”
15. “This is basically just the porno version with a whole lot of white male hate going on in it.”
16. “Families stay away! Lesbian kiss scene first episode, F BOMBS throughout not necessary.”
17. “Everyone is queer. It’s nothing like the movie which is EPIC. Is Janet the mean girl? The best friend? Mean lesbian? Mean straight girl I? can’t figure it out. ”
18. “The original was about women getting the opportunity to play a sport. The series is all about sexuality and blah blah blah.”
19. “If you want to be gay or whatever you want to call yourself, that’s fine. There is NO need to push it into people faces.”
20. “… it was like orange is the new black rockford peaches edition without the entertaining drama or romcom.”
21. “Way to go, Amazon, with furthering the stereotype that straight women can’t be good athletes, or that they’re all sleeping with each other!!”
22. “SORRY NOT SORRY MY 7 YEAR OLD DOESNT NEED TO WATCH LGBTQ HAVING SEX OR THE LEADING INTO IT.. THIS IS MORE OF SOFTCORE GAY PORN THAN A FAMILY SHOW! WHAT IN THE HELL DOES LGBTQ HAVE TO DO WITH THE HISTORY OF THIS ERA?”
23. “I cannot believe they took an amazing story about brave, bold women of the 1940’s and turned it into a complete homosexual extravaganza.”
24. “That satanist Madonna replacement character: gay and dragging another woman down with her. That personality hemorrhoid Rosie O’Donell character: gay.”
25. “I loved the league of their own movie and was hoping for a light funny show. This show is less baseball, less humor and a lot more lesbian sex scenes. It should be called “Bush League” At least then you would know what you are getting.”
26. “Nothing against the LGBTQ but its awful.”
27. “There was a pandemic, the economy is in the tank, inflation is up, .. nobody is in the mood for continued lectures from the woke class about their misogyny, their white privilege, etc.”
28. “women’s baseball… gay? im sorry i can care less who you do… but do not shove your crap at me, especally a womans baseball movie… i love women and i love baseball…”
29. “More like 2022 than 1943. The story is typical in a 2022 environment. POC, Friends of Dorothy, smoking, swearing, clothing, etc. Almost nothing happened IRL back in 1943 and that’s the issue.”
30. “The baseball stuff was good. I don’t know how it ended cause I canceled my membership cause of this.”
31. “They didn’t even show any loving heterosexual relationships with the female players. This was a great opportunity for a great movie and they blew it. I had to force myself to Finnish watching.”
32. “Should have just called it ‘The L Word Season of A League of Their Own.'”
oh, wow, let me be the first to comment that I want to see it SO much more now
“complete homosexual extravaganza” sounds like season 2’s headline and I am here for it!
Truly dreaming of being called a complete homosexual extravaganza by at least one tedious straight person in my lifetime
I would absolutely pay real money for merch that said “complete homosexual extravaganza” on it.
Same! AS Team, new merch concept alert :D
Who TF watches tv shows for adults with their 7year old? Are the straight OK?
Finnish Watching
loved it
Tag yourself.
I’m: “a complete homosexual extravaganza”
i’m all about sexuality and blah blah blah
also the Satanist Madonna replacement character
I’m “Should be called ‘Bush League'”
i think i’m “lesbians were the theme”
I’m “LGBQXYZ1234#$%”
I’m “I love women and I love baseball…”
I’m “Families stay away”
I’m “almost nothing happened IRL back in 1943 and that’s the issue”
(1943, a year famous for nothing happening)
I’m “immorally sends a letter”
I’m “less baseball and a lot more lesbian sex”
ending my years of comment voyeurism to add that I’m a “really fine, dedicated ballplayer[s] looking like a [bunch of] sex addicted slut[s]”
I’m “the porno version with a whole lot of white male hate going on”
If there’s one thing you can count on from the homophobic community, it is that one or more of them will ALWAYS use the “shoved down our throats” analogy, as if people are required to consume every bit of mass media in existence.
Also, why is that person’s seven-year-old watching ANYTHING on Netflix that is not explicitly for kids?
Im: “smoking, swearing, clothing, etc.”
I’m “so damned tired”
I’ll take ‘Everyone is queer’
I’m “women’s baseball…gay?”
I’m betting these same people gave Bridgerton 5 stars
Bridgerton IS a complete heterosexual extravaganza.
“really sharp Eagle Eyes who want to just let us know that Janis Joplin songs are from the 60s/70s, not the 40s. Okay?”
I don’t know why this version of criticism irritates me the most but it really does. I’ve seen a lot of that about the music and about the contemporary dialogue, saying it’s “lazy” or “they didn’t bother doing research,” instead of just recognizing that it was a very deliberate choice. Doesn’t have to work for everyone, but this idea that it didn’t just occur to them to google “popular songs from 1940s” is hilarious.
13. “Girls can have deep friendships that don’t become sexual. A show about that would be far more refreshing.“ Too bad that person obviously bailed early because they will miss some of the better depictions of platonic female friendships I’ve seen in a long time!
“immorally sends a letter” – ICONIC
the janis joplin commentary is also fun bc the original did have madonna and carole king in it, also not 40s songs!
also too bad the person missed out on every single tv show about platonic female friendships produced before 2010 where against all odds nobody was ever gay!!!
THIS! everyone seems to think it’s “revolutionary” to have only platonic friendships between women, or for queer characters not to have romance, as if that’s not what literally every show ever has been.
“SORRY NOT SORRY MY 7 YEAR OLD” huh? Amazon warned you that it was for 16 and up, sorry not sorry you didn’t listen to the parental guidance
This one confused me because I recently watched the 1992 film and it is not 7 year old friendly either?! Granted, I watched it as a young kid but those were different times lol.
OK but Bush League WOULD be an amazing title…
I left my first (obviously very positive) Prime video review ever to counteract all the homophobic/racist 1 and 2 star comments but your tact is far more satisfying, Riese. Thank you for your service of wading through all that muck!
29. “More like 2022 than 1943. The story is typical in a 2022 environment. POC, Friends of Dorothy, smoking, swearing, clothing, etc. Almost nothing happened IRL back in 1943 and that’s the issue.”
I’m so sad to know that there were no POC, Friends of Dorothy, smoking, swearing and clothes in 1943. How quickly we have evolved.
Look out people here comes the Bush League!
Thank you for sharing these ugly comments in a way that is less heavy than it felt to read them initially. My wife and I got a “free 30-day prime” just so we could watch this show and I don’t know why we looked at the comments. They brought a painful tear to my eye in the moment, so it feels good to laugh. My wife typed up a stinging rebuttal that contained actual facts about the show/history, but sadly we cannot publish it until we make a purchase from the account. Soon!
Oh my…these are the times I wish time machines were real so I could transport these mofos back to the days they think they want. Hint: They really don’t want those days. Lol.
Thank you for bringing humor to this. I think we all needed it. Now, back to re-watching the homosexual extravaganza!!
“I love women and I love baseball”
Looking forward to receiving your ask for help coming out in the Autostraddle inbox honey we won’t hold it against you
All of these statements are asinine but I really need to know who wrote #14. I know a great deal about sports, movies, and sports movies and this statement is nonsensical. Clearly, this person has never actually seen a sports movie.
Amd how dare Abbi, Will, and Amazon make a show that depicts women as sexual beings. What is this science fiction?
oh wow, I hate sports and media about sports so much but these reviews have convinced me to watch this show! absolutely sold by ‘complete homosexual extravaganza’
Um, whose gonna tell that reviewer about Rosie? 😂 I’m so confused if the comment was inferring that Rosie is straight.
And where do they think a Friend of Dorothy came from? I know all of these people think that being queer is just some new thing imagined by the left to corrupt the youths, but maybe it’s that it was dangerous to be out and they had to develop code words. Just a thought… 🤔
i know i also wondered if they thought rosie was straight!!! if they did then i’m especially unsurprised to hear that they don’t seem to realize how many gay people exist, period
It’s always the ones who use “LGBTQ” like a noun lmao
Real old man yells at cloud energy
To be able to turn these hateful, racist, and demeaning comments into a more palatable read is the true message here.
I don’t read reviews on series’ that have a “gay agenda” for this very reason. Next we’ll see a politician say that they don’t believe in solar panels because they want lights at night. Oh, wait….
Too bad you can’t reply to Amazon comments anymore.
I just think it’s kinda boring. I hadn’t even thought about all the other ridiculous negative reactions. I’ll keep watching though.
Yeah. I wish it actually lived up to the pearl clutching horror of these reviews.
I was scrolling through the 5-star reviews that thankfully already far outnumber the kind highlighted here; there was one titled “this will upsetero you heteros” and I CACKLED
I love women and I love baseball. 😂🤣😂🤣 I just…god I want that on a shirt!
I hope all the 1 star comments get recommended to watch Bull Durham lol.
‘A complete homosexual extravaganza’ sounds like I finally got an answer to the ‘what do you want to be when you grow up?’ question…
hmnm also wonder why all these commenters totally neglected to notice the very prominent loving and happy straight marriage between Clance & Guy ??
NTM Miss Toni and Edgar Chapman.
But those aren’t white people, how are those trolls supposed to notice them?
Is Bush League a group of very fun queer sports fans or a group of conservatives that support the Bush family political dynasty? Feels like it could go either way.
I grew up in a household of Texas Rangers fans, so I happen to know that George W Bush co-owner the team prior to his election as governor of Texas. So I guess the third (and worst) option is a league of Bush-supporting baseball fans and/or a Bush-owned baseball league.
A Complete Homosexual Extravaganza – the title of my memoir
If ONLY they had called it Bush League. Now THAT would have been iconic and amazing.
Also the lack of knowledge about… the world? people? anything?? is really clear in most of these reviews. Lack of knowledge or intellect does not equal meannes, but damnit if not most vocal mean people aren’t dumb as hell.
I need Homosexual Extravaganza merch
I find myself surprisingly shocked that people still feel free to comment like these folks do! When I read similar comments about “Legends of Tomorrow” (Co-Captains for Life) I had to go and rant to my wife for half an hour about the injustice of it all.
amazing. thank you for doing this, Riese
“women’s baseball… gay?”
Also really loved “lesbians were the theme” because that’s exactly what I texted my friends after I watched the first 3 episodes!
Logging onto Prime, like, now.