There’s controversy with Tiny Tina from Borderlands 2? Really? Apparently, several people are upset about the type of language Tiny Tina uses in Borderlands 2 and have deemed it racist. As an African American who played Borderlands 2, I personally wasn’t offended and I thought she was actually kind of funny. I liked the character of Tiny Tina and thought her choice of slang was appropriate for the situation and was unable to see any form of racism.
Tiny Tina is a lovable and sweet little sociopath with a penchant for making things go boom and speaking ebonics to get her point across. There’s nothing new or innovative about this. I repeat: there is nothing new and innovative about a young white girl speaking in slang. White people have always taken portions of the Black community to make it their own. Clothes, music, language; its all been copied and white washed. I’m not going to tell anyone what they can and can’t be offended by, but this isn’t that big of a deal and certainly not racist.
Tiny Tina’s dialogue was written by Anthony Burch and voiced by Ashly Burch. The brother and sister duo are famous for the web series “Hey Ash: Whatcha Playin?” I watched an episode of “Hey Ash” and noticed that both Ashly Burch and Tiny Tina are practically the same person. This controversy on Twitter prompted Burch to respond with the decision to change the character’s dialogue for any future Borderlands 2 DLC featuring Tiny Tina.
I for one hope that never happens. I understand that some people find something offensive in everything they see, but you also can’t please everyone. In my opinion, calling this situation and character’s dialogue racist isn’t just unacceptable; It’s downright stupid. If you didn’t like the character, then you should have sold your copy of Borderlands 2 and moved on.
To Anthony Burch, Ashly Burch, Gearbox Software and 2K Games: Please don’t change Tiny Tina because some people are offended and go on a Twitter rant. I was entertained with Borderlands 2 and don’t think this controversy warrants change to a funny and lovable character because someone’s offended by Tiny Tina’s speech impediment.
Related Link(s):
Gamer Horizon 
I agree completely, Chris! To be honest, Tiny Tina was my favorite character in the whole game. It’d be a real shame if they toned her down the next time they use her in the game.
LikeLike
I love that she’s a 13 year old psycho killer and no one bats an eye at the violence. But she’s white, and she uses slang typically reserved for African Americans!? RACIST! OFFENSIVE!
You know what’s offensive? White guys getting offended -for- black guys because the white guys are using the black guys words. That’s fucking racist. Getting offended because the fun differences sometimes observed as stereotypes of one race or another are mixed up. It’s not the one making the harmless jokes that’s racist, heck we look different and it’s okay to poke fun at that. It’s the one being offended by it, that’s straight up racism.
LikeLike
She’s not racist, she’s 13! Tons of kids that age speak in a mash-up of popular slang, ebonics included. If someone play the omnipotent race card and ruin this great character, it would be a serious loss for the game. The racial debate has extremists on both ends of the scale, neither should be taken seriously.
LikeLike
Tina is a reflection of observed human behavior. I’ll put it this way if Tina is racist then why doesn’t everyone stop copying black people’s style.
Now that’s a hard pill to swallow.
LikeLike
Whoever brought this up about Tiny Tina needs to be strung up and lynched. I’m well qualified to say this.
LikeLike
I haven’t gotten to Tiny Tina on Borderlands 2 yet, but I’m definitely looking forward to seeing how she is. I need to restart my game though >_>
LikeLike
Aww… that’s harsh :L you’ll probably love her humor when you get to her… it’s a somewhat tomboyish take on being girly with some … if we take it into perspective of the “controversy” in question, “ethnic” themes. :O
LikeLike
Well I made the mistake of playing the game in co-op, so my co-op buddy blew through all the quests that I would’ve taken time to play through to take in the atmosphere. It was all a blur to me.
LikeLike
Isnt it racist to think that only certain people can talk a certain way?
LikeLike
Tiny Tina was one of my favorite characters in the game and I didn’t find anything offending or racist with her dialogues. The character is really humorous (at least I think so )
LikeLike