Dirty Laundry (Voltron fanfic)

Dirty Laundry by Gibslythe is a very popular early Klance fic originally hosted on Archive of Our Own. It is a Modern, Mundane AU in which Lance and Keith fake date and get together. It began after the first season of Voltron: Legendary Defender, and was sometimes referred to as "the Klance Bible" because it cemented a lot of early fanon for the ship."The Klance Bible"—For example:
* foofoocuddlypoopsgavesokkaapples . August 12th, 2017.
* bobbieistheinternet July 12th, 2017.
(Not to be confused with The Klible, a shipping manifesto by smugkeith.) In the fic, Lance's surname was Sanchez and he was Mexican American, headcanons which were jossed in the shows's later seasons.
In late July 2016, a number of fans (primarily on Tumblr) began to complain that the fic was racist in its portrayal of Lance's Mexican American background and family, and then that it was also ableist in its portrayal of a minor autistic original character. Dirty Laundry's originally fast and reliable update schedule was interrupted, going through rewrites to correct some of the content that had been called out, before the rest of the story was published in one shot at the end of October 2016.
It was replaced with the script of Bee Movie and then deleted in August, 2018, but not before gaining the highest kudos count of any M/M work on AO3 in March 2017.
The original summary from AO3:
In a fail_fandomanon thread about satisfying flounces, one nonnie wrote:
==The Fic==
A summary from a fan:
Significant characters in the fic are Lance's family, who are all OCs.
Dirty Laundry was marked as having adult content and included make outs, swearing, wrestling, description of male genitalia, homophobia, and some violence.adult content description by klanced. July 22nd, 2016. Gibslythe said that the eventual smut scene would be in its own chapter for people to skip over if they didn't want to read it.adult content description reblog by gibslythe. July 24th, 2016.
===Popularity===
In late July 2016, Dirty Laundry was so popular it overtook the klance tag on tumblr.Which we know because people complained. For example: When you haven’t read Dirty Laundry yet but the whole Voltron tag is just “ABUELITA IS COMING” Jul 26, 2016 On Jul 26, gibslythe asked her readers not to flood the tag: "I want to respect their space! We are all part of this fandom and I want to honor that."PSA for Dirty Laundry, July 26th, 2016. Later, she updated this request and asked people to used the tags "VLD: Dirty Laundry or Fic: Dirty Laundry" because the dirty laundry tag was apparently also used for some unrelated NSFW things.Hey guys, don’t forget to not blow up the K/lance tag. Jul 26, 2016.
Additionally, the fic was referenced on Fandometrics:
A post pointing this out in the dirty laundry tag received 1,600 notes.oh my god, 2016-07-27.
Several people printed out physical copies. One fan printed it off of AO3 and put it in a three-ring binderMy hand slipped and I may have printed the entire fic Dirty Laundry. Jun 14th, 2017. while another had it printed as a paperbackoh.my.god. it’s finally here. this story by @gibslythe is just too precious to not to be printed. i made it for myself so it’s only one copy! February 1st, 2017. and a third had it spiral-bound.submission to gibslythe. October 26th, 2016. Its popularity was probably influenced by its quick, reliable update schedule, which for a time was, "every other day sometime between 8-11 pm PDT"PSA for Dirty Laundry Update July 24th, 2016. from July 11 to July 28, afterwhich it was briefly going to be "every Sunday and Wednesday around 8 PDT".
Dirty Laundry quickly grew to become one of the most popular fics throughout fandom. In October 2016 it was the 5th most kudosed work on AO330 Oct 2016 gibslythe: Dirty laundry is the 5th most kudoed fic on AO3 I don't know how to articulate words in my mouth?
In late March 2017 it became the second most kudosed work, only behind I Am Groot, and the most popular M/M work.
==Fandom Reaction==
Dirty Laundry's effect on Klance fic was also broad and long-lasting. In April, 2017, one author felt the need to put the following disclaimer in their tags:
While this may seem overly defensive, it is not unusual for Klance authors to directly reference Dirty Laundry. There are 42 works that include "Lance Sanchez" on AO3 as of early 2019"Lance Sanchez" search. Accessed February 11th, 2019. The "Lance Sanchez" tag is synned to the canonical "Lance (Voltron)" and most works don't tag as "Lance Sanchez" anyway, so the full text search is the best option.—"Sanchez" being the last name Gibslythe gave Lance in Dirty LaundryOne author wrote, "also i went with the last name "sanchez" (i.e., lance sanchez) from dirty laundry,,idk it just fit so yah."—The Ink on His Skin by mauvesaidwill (23seok). 2016-08-06.—and many fics note that they're "inspired" by Gibslythe's fic.Fics "inspired" by Dirty Laundry: For example:
* Pencil Sharpeners by Bakadook. 2016-12-24.
* What is Love Like? Klance by Marmaster81. 2017-06-06.
* Bubbles by orphan_account. 2017-12-17.
* Heaven, shape of a store: days 0 by shipperpartner. 2018-08-27.
Other fics are even more specific about what they're borrowing from Dirty Laundry. Some recursive fanfiction has been published, but authors also often chose to just borrow fanon details:
Not everyone was always happy about being compared to Dirty Laundry, though. In a 2018 Klance holiday fic, one author's A/N simply read:
In the comments section, they explained their frustration:
In August 2016, an author tweeted: In January 2017, the same author tweeted 
===General Comments===
==Controversy==
At the end of July, 2016, Dirty Laundry's popularity as discussed above soured. The basic timeline of events:
* July 11—Gibslythe publishes the first chapter of Dirty Laundry.
* July 26—Gibslythe posts asking her fans to keep Dirty Laundry posts out of the general Voltron tags.
* July 27—Fandometrics references Dirty Laundry on their Week In Review.
* July 28—Giblythe posts a PSA addressing complaints of racism in Dirty Laundry and apologizes.
* July 30—Giblythe posts a second PSA announcing that she will be halting publishing of Dirty Laundry, closing her inbox, and no longer posting about fic on her tumblr.
On July 31, one tumblr user summed up events, in part, like so:
Additionally, at the time the fic was posted, the fandom only knew that Lance McClain was Latino, so in Dirty Laundry he's written as Mexican."Lance was confirmed Cuban! well after the fic was underway, see the author thought Lance’s Cuban heritage was a headcanon (understandable! bc it WAS until it was confirmed to be true) and was several chapters into the fic already when people started in on it."—so July 31st, 2016. Later it was revealed that he is canonically Cuban, leading to even more wank over the fic."So the dirty laundry either[sic] was getting hate and bullied because she made Lance Mexican but by that time we just knew he was Latino and then they confirmed him being Cuban. People gave it a lot of hate and called it racist but me as a Latina it really isn't like a bunch of it is accurate and I really enjoyed the fic and I cried with it. I'm low-key still frustrated that people call it racist"—frostokami replying to i-gave-my-life-to-voltron's post. July 9th, 2018. Dirty Laundry is also often given as an example representing a tendency in Voltron fandom for non-bilingual writers to awkwardly insert Spanish into Lance's dialogue.
===First PSA===
Gibslythe's first PSA responding to the wank was posted on July 28, 2016. The beginning read:
The rest of the PSA went on to say that Gibslythe wouldn't stop writing, but she would be changing her update schedule to a slower pace. She also asked if there was anyone who'd be "willing to be a recourse for Mexican culture as well as reading the chapters before hand to confirm they are respectful and professional." The post received 1,304 notes.
Although there were a lot of positive reactions to Gibslythe's post, not everyone was satisfied with it. At least one user responded very strongly. Here's a sample of the conversation that went on in the reblogs:
Other users were much more mild:
Positive comments:
===Second PSA===
Gibslythe's section PSA came on July 30, 2016. She announced that she would stop updating completely for several weeks in order to write the rest of the story and then post everything else at once. She said:
The post received 3,019 notes and a lot of support:
===Accusations of Ableism===
Although neither PSA mentions the accusations of ableism regarding and no asks to Gibslythe on the subject seem to have been archived, people were definitely also discussing the portrayal of autism in Dirty Laundry at the end of July, 2016. pkmnshippings's summary post on the subject:
Comments from July 30 and July 31, 2016:
===Further Comments On Racism===
The comments on racism didn't contain themselves to just responses to Gibslythe's PSAs or messages to her blog. Not everything ended up in any of the relevant tags, either. pkmnshippings's summary post on the subject:
===Comments On Bullying===
===Effects On Other Klance Fans===
In an August 2016 Klance fic, one author felt the need to warn people in their author's note that the fic would contain "a trans male character with two kids that he made, himself, with his vagina" which was "1) relevant to plot and 2) not going to change so," and ended the author's note with:
Another author in a September 2016 fic noted in their A/N that they'd changed the contents of one of their scenes in response to the Dirty Laundry "fiasco":
One fan said that they were disappointed in the fandom and called the harassment of Gibslythe "disgusting".Dirty Laundry Voltron Fandom PSA July 31st, 2016. Another fan, when describing the events of late August, said:
Some fans saw the way Gibslythe had been treated, the way the fandom had turned on them and then suddenly turned back, as an example of the toxic culture on tumblr, and a sign of something wrong with the fanbase itself. One fan wrote:
===Support posts===
* July 31,The original post has been deleted, so this post might have been made earlier than July 31st. 2016—Dirty Laundry Discourse (archive) by thegalacticpope
* July 31, 2016—Dirty Laundry is a beautiful fic and I love every single part of it (archive) by queenofthefaces
* July 31, 2016—About Dirty Laundry (archive) by todoroki-shoutooo
* July 31, 2016—Gibslythe you did nothing wrong (archive) by jaegereska
* August 1, 2016—man, am I disappointed: my two cents worth on the discourse (archive plaintext) by svnbrds
* August 1, 2016—anonymous asked: i am mexican-american and (archive) by blue-paladork
* August 1, 2016—@Latinx & Mexicans/Mexican Americans Offended by Dirty Laundry (archive) by cafedecanela
* August 2, 2016—To all the Dirty Laundry haters (archive) by zodiac46
* August 3, 2016—Es tiempo de levar la ropa sucia (Time to wash the dirty laundry) (archive) by hazelbaum
* August 12, 2016—This post is completely dedicated to @gibslythe. (archive) br wavy-bunny
* August 27, 2016—people need to calm tf down about dirty laundry (archive) by vildethekid
* May 13, 2018—dear dirty laundry haters… (archive) by pocketcottxin
==Deletion==
On August 15, 2018, Gibslythe tweeted a screencap of Dirty Laundry with the title changed to Dirty Launbee and a new summary and author's note, saying, "It's done. That was cathartic. Thanks for the ride." The tweet received 293 likes, 55 retweets, and 24 replies.
The new summary:
The new author's note:
One of Gibslythe's twitter followers asked, "what do you mean ao3 wouldn't let you delete it?" to which Gibslythe replied:
===Reactions===
The replies to Gibslythe's tweets were supportive and sympathetic:
On tumblr, users were a little less positive, presumably because they weren't replying straight to the author about it. One post, with a screencap of the Dirty Launbee version of the fic announcing that Dirty Laundry was gone, received 2,344 notes,DIRTY LAUNDRY IS G O N E. August 16th, 2018. (archive) including many replies lamenting the loss of the story. For example:
Other reactions on tumblr:
Other reactions on twitter:
==Fanworks==
===Fanfiction===
* Laser Tag Lovers by humanepluviophile
* Dirty Laundry/Грязное белье by Ms_Anger_Management_Issues
* Birthday Wishes by LunaAndJay
* A Deal is a Deal, Isn't it? by KrisChoaz
* Clean Laundry by raspberrypie
===Fanart===
* photobooth scene
* My first attempt at trying to draw an actual background
* my favorite scene from the final chapter
* Dancing~~
* you did it babe
* I am not sure if this video will reach that one person i want it to, but i can only hope
* So I read this really really cute College AU Klance fic
* guess which fanfic i read
===Fancomics===
* dirty laundry themed comic
* 1⭐…2⭐…3⭐………
* From that one bedroom scene
===Videos===
* [Cosplay] Klance CMV - Dirty Laundry [Voltron Legendary Defender] by Kihime Doubleblack
* Voltron [Klance] First Love/ Late Spring [CMV inspired by Dirty Laundry] by CacophonyandDiscord
* ✧ Wasted Full Klance MEP (Dirty Laundry) by nerdylime
* Dirty Laundry - Voltron CMV by NoIdeaInk
* Dirty Laundry: A Klance Fanfiction Movie (Trailer) by The FanDUMB Experience
* Dirty Laundry: Klance CMV by Its a Cosplay Thing
* Dirty Laundry Klance [MEP Part] by umbreon34lps
* dirty laundry [ mep part ] by jaspae
===Moodboards===
* moodboard
* moodboard
===Playlists===
* two playlists
* My Writing Playlist: Dirty Laundry
===Cosplay===
* Klance CMV “Dirty Laundry” is on YouTube!
* cosplay
===Memes===
* dick:out meme summary
* go get em tiger meme
==External links==
* Dirty Laundry on GoodReads
* dirtylaundryfic.tumblr.com
* tumblr tags:
** dirty laundry
** klance dirty laundry
** voltron dirty laundry
** vld dirty laundry
** dirty laundry klance
** dirty laundry discourse
** dirty laundressThe dirty laundress tag was started to offer support to Gibslythe when the other tags became overrun with negative content. Two example posts directing people to use the tag:
* The new hashtag to show @gibslythe love and appreciation for her work is #dirtylaundress, coined by @thegalacticpope. July 30th, 2016.
* Tag all your positive thoughts about Dirty Laundry with #dirtylaundress so the author can see them July 31st, 2016.
==Notes & References==
===Notes===
===References===
Category:Voltron: Legendary Defender
Category:Fandom WarsCategory:2019 Featured Articles