‘Pretty Little Liars’ season 6: ABC Family in hot water over offensive tweet

It is typically around this time that we watch new episodes of “Pretty Little Liars” on a Tuesday. However, talking today about a very different controversy, as the show has come under fire for a tweet that was posted on the official ABC Family page. It showed a photo of Charlotte a.k.a. CeCe Drake alongside the caption of “He. She. It. Charlotte. #PrettyLittleLiars.” Obviously, this was seen almost immediately as transphobic being that Charlotte is transgender, and it was deleted not long after it was posted.

Following some outrage by fans, show creator Marlene King was quick to post a message to Instagram regarding the the offensive message:

“The Pretty Little Liars official Instagram account is not run by the shows creators, cast or crew. We too were upset by the post yesterday and we’re happy to see that it was removed … I encourage all people to be their true selves. And offer my support to the LBGT community.”

As for ABC Family, the message was obviously a surprise given that when you look at shows from “Pretty Little Liars” to “The Fosters” to “Becoming Us,” they have a greater representation of LGBT people than almost any other network. They released a statement of their own to MTV News, saying the message “was in reference to lines Spencer and Hanna have said in previous episodes venting their frustration about not knowing the identity or gender of their tormentor (’A’). It was spoken by these characters a season before they found out that ’A’ was a transgender character. We updated the reference by including the name Charlotte because it was revealed that Charlotte is ’A.’”

Ultimately, it sounds like a really bad decision by someone in the promo department, and something that really should have been pointed out or thought through along the line. We’re happy it’s gone, and we’ll just leave it at that for now.

We’re going to have more news related to “Pretty Little Liars” throughout the hiatus at this link, so be on the lookout for more. Also, you can sign up here in the event you want some further TV updates on everything we cover, sent right in your direction via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: ABC Family.)