Community Discussion: Hazel

As of 10/24/2020, Hazel (FusionVaria) is suspended indefinitely from the Battle for Bikini Bottom community Discord server, Twitch channel, and all other relevant social media gathering places. Accusations against Hazel, her handling of them and the experiences of those formerly associated with her were compiled and explained in chronological order.

Relevant sources:
Pastebin written by Memory and friends: https://pastebin.com/PhD0uA6E
Hazel’s (deleted) apology: https://archive.md/3hrAP
Reactions and responses to the belated apology: https://twitter.com/fusionvaria/status/1315863593766785024
https://twitter.com/MemoryTAS/status/1316019998603661312
https://twitter.com/fusionvaria/status/1316009858697621505
https://twitter.com/Really_Tall/status/1316223390844424192



Following the publication of her apology, Hazel agreed (along with Peanut, a representative from the accusing party) with Shift’s proposed resolution: allow the LGBT+ members of the BfBB community (those who may be primarily offended by her statements) to decide the necessity of disciplinary action. They were presented the aforementioned sources in chronological order, along with dates and context for each to assure the timeline was accurate. Some of our LGBT+ community members have chosen to express their thoughts regarding Hazel’s behavior following the community discussion:

Response 1/7:
What hazel has said has made me feel very disappointed and quite blown away as i never really would have expected this from her. none of what she said can be justified and it needs to be addressed better than how she has before. her apology felt very disingenuous and also a way to just cover up how she viewed things in the past and the fact that it ended up being deleted makes it worse. id like to see her hold herself accountable for everything shes said that has hurt people which includes what has been said on her private twitter account. i hope to see her change for the better and overall become a better person especially towards this sort of topic -AK8

Response 2/7:
My final thoughts on what has happened is that I think what Hazel has said and done show a neglect for those around her, and how she impacts them. Negative actions, even if they come from a place of good intention, deserve to be acknowledged and criticized, and that said place of good intent is not something you use to deflect arguments with. Additionally, I believe that the way she worded her pastebin came off as a desperate attempt to save face, rather than a way to legitimately apologize to the people she has hurt. I think that time away from the BfBB community will do her a lot of good, as she needs time to reflect on her actions, come to terms with them, and truly be willing to face them head on. -Anonymous

Response 3/7:
I feel very uncomfortable and disappointed by the statements she made, each paragraph was harder and harder to read into. Her apologys hold very little value to me, ignoring making one and only posting it after being asked too, then deleting it. I wish I don't have to associate with her anymore. I wish that in the future she could be more open to accept that some of her views are very hurtful and think about what she makes other people feel with those statements. -Anonymous

Response 4/7:
my name is Alexie, I’m known online as DarthFrollo. I’m a trans girl on the autism spectrum, and those pieces of information are what will be relevant to my reflection on Hazel. Hazel’s initial apology (specifically the explanation about “being outed”) reeks of apathy and dishonesty given all the transition q&a she did years ago. so does the way she acts to me actually, she’ll act all casual and chill and give me tasing advice and even give me a sneak peek of the tas but the thing is that I’m the exact kind of person she does not see as a person. I’m indecisive about my gender identity, and at that time I was nonbinary as well. there’s also the twisting of the conflation between gender identity and the autism spectrum into not only the perception of the transgender experience as a mental illness but of autism itself as something inherently bad. idk about her own experiences on the autism spectrum but being autistic has given me both benefits and setbacks aplenty. I don’t consider myself an asshole most of the time and I certainly don’t blame it on my position on the autism spectrum. now, simply linking gender identity and the autism spectrum I think is harmless in its own right but if you already have a stigmatized view of autism, that’s when it starts getting toxic. for instance, blaming it for your deliberate wrongdoings on principle. to sum up this loaded message, here are my conclusive thoughts on hazel: she fits all the criteria of my least favourite types of people; dishonest people who will put on an easy to get along with mask in the public eye, but when in private they will evaluate and judge a transgender person’s “transness” on some sort of scale or list of prerequisites and blame their other deliberate wrongdoings on neuro-divergences such as autism. the pastebin was released in June. I was well aware of some tweets she had on her alt account for gender takes some time before that. and I failed to inform anyone in this community due to feelings of intimidation about being considered a snitch. in some aspects, I failed this community, caring more about my own image within this community than about the community’s integrity itself and because of that an abuser was kept unchecked even multiple months after public callout. I hope I never have to associate with Hazel again -DarthFrollo

Response 5/7:
Seeing this unfold was rather surprising to me as my personal experiences with Hazel have been quite different. She has always emphasized being my true self to me, and if anything my interactions with her have made me more accepting of my own gender nonconformity. I feel like I understand where she's coming from with everything she has told me, so to hear that she has hurt others in the past is rather upsetting. My experience does not invalidate the experience of others, so I truly hope that she can find it in her to try and make amends with anyone she has hurt. I can also understand the whole private twitter situation, and due to that account no longer existing, I'm pretty sure she understands the reality of having an account like that now. This topic is one that with even slightly different wording can turn from well intended advice into harmful doubting of someone's personal choices and decisions. My hope is that she can recognize that what she has said, even if well intended has ended up being harmful to others, and make amends with those she's hurt. I also hope that she can explain her opinions and experiences in an unambigous manner, when appropriate and asked for, as at least in my experience she can legitimately help people if they desire to seek it, rather than having it forced upon them. -Four

Response 6/7:
I feel that Hazel's apology was more explanation than it was sincere. I can understand how it feels to communicate lacking emotional intelligence, as it's something that I've struggled/struggle with. I hope she uses this situation learn how much gender identity means to people, and that it can affect everyone in different ways. I felt that her heart was in the right place with warning people about transitioning, but also had insensitivities (private twitter posts). The change in attitude that I would believe would help is more open-mindedness about people's identity. Despite one's opinion of gender/sex, what matters most is that it's a very sensitive topic to some people, and should be treated that way. -Anonymous

Response 7/7:
My name is Serena (or SerenaFlux) and I am a trans girl who started running BfBB in mid-2019. I never knew Hazel particularly well, but I do remember when I first started running the game seeing her as a prominent community member did a lot for me to feel welcome and represented, even if I wasn’t fully “out” at the time. As such, it was really disappointing for me to see some of the things she had said and done to hurt other trans people in the past. I understand that autism does impact social awareness in some regards, but I don’t believe the things that Hazel said can be excused in this way. If that were all that were happening, I think she would have apologized much sooner when others brought it to her attention. The fact that she waited as long as she did to apologize, and the fact that her apology came across to virtually everybody as deflective and excusatory rather than remorseful, lead me to believe that she does not regret what she’s done nor does she understand why it was wrong. I don’t think this lack of understanding can be blamed on autism, but is rather due to a lack of empathy on her part given how many times others have explained it to her. I’m personally not sure that I would ever feel comfortable with her returning to the community, but if she wants to return I think she needs to spend a long time reflecting over these things until she can understand why people are angry with her, then once she has that figured out she needs to make a public apology explaining why what she did was wrong and what she is going to do to change and be a better person, without all of the excuses and self-pity from her first apology. -SerenaFlux



Hazel’s suspension is indefinite, however she will be offered a behavioral evaluation 6 months from now (if requested) to determine if her behavior best represents the inclusivity of our community. Regardless of what the moderators determine from this evaluation, she will not be permitted access to the community’s online gathering places until our community members have accepted an apology from her, which we encourage her to offer at any time, so long as it’s sincere. We hope she dedicates this period to evaluating how her words have impacted not only those who formerly considered her a friend, but also those within our own family. Thank you for your patience, and thank you for reading. -SHiFT, with consent from the BfBB moderation team and Peanut