Pokémon
In January 2000, Weatherford wrote an op-ed piece that ran in newspapers across Alabama. "Politically Incorrect Pokémon" explained how
Pokémon #124, Jynx, was a negative stereotype of African Americans:
The character Jynx, Pokémon #124, has decidedly human features [in contrast to most other characters]: jet-black skin, huge pink lips, gaping eyes, a straight blonde mane and a full figure, complete with cleavage and wiggly hips. Put another way, Jynx resembles an overweight drag queen incarnation of Little Black Sambo, a racist stereotype from a children's book long ago purged from libraries.
In response to the controversy, Jynx's in-game sprites were given a purple skin color in the American versions of
Pokémon Gold and
Silver, which was released in late 2000. By 2002, Nintendo officially redesigned Jynx, changing her skin color from black to purple; this change was not reflected in the animated series until Shogakukan (the company that produces the
Pokémon anime) changed the color of Jynx's face to purple in 2005.
Dragon Ball
In an article published in the
Christian Science Monitor in May 2000, Weatherford reiterated and expanded on her argument. Jynx 124 had looked like "an obese drag queen," and she also offered Mr. Popo, a character from the
Dragon Ball franchise, up for critique:
Mr. Popo is a rotund, turban-clad genie with pointy ears, jet-black skin, shiny white eyes, and, yes, big red lips.
The
Dragon Ball manga later released by Viz in 2003 had reduced the size of Mr. Popo's lips.