On HeMo and the Tweet Heard ‘Round the Fandom

Another “Unpopular Opinion,” as it were.

I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the HeMo tweet, so here is one answer to them all:

First of all, just like everyone in the Glee fandom, the actors are free to ship whatever pairings they want. When people ask you why you ship Brittana, you may be able to list all the reasons why you love them as a couple—e.g., the pinky-linking, their friendship, the fact that they make each other happy, etc.—but really it comes down to the way that you feel.

The moment we start making statements as a fandom that imply that our feelings are somehow more valid than other people’s feelings, and especially the feelings of one of the actresses who made our ship happen, we’ve crossed a line. As Brittana fans, we should know that you can’t help who you love and that the heart wants what the heart wants. (I mean, just ask Santana—“I have to accept that I love you,” anyone?) And if Heather really feels like Bartie is the best thing for Brittany? We should accept and respect her feelings, no matter how strongly we feel differently.

Secondly, some people in the fandom are acting like that tweet is anti-Brittana. It’s not. It’s just pro-Bartie. HeMo didn’t say what she said to disparage our ship. Indeed, in the past, HeMo has shown open support for Brittana and said cute things about the idea of the ship, just like Naya has and does (see here). I would suggest that everyone read this Ask answer that hysterical-blindness posted from ssnozzberriess, because it makes several good points, including the fact that

1. HeMo has been really careful to only say positive things about Artie and Kevin since Paleyfest, probably in large part due to the Artie-hate that some fans directed at Kevin in response to the Bartie storyline. I don’t know about you guys, but I’m actually really proud of Heather for sticking up for her castmate like that. She obviously cares about Kevin and is trying to do everything in her professional power to make sure that people are kind to him and his character.

2. HeMo tends to support whatever relationship her character is in at the moment—which, again, just shows her professional courtesy towards the fans, the characters, the writers, etc. It is unfair to compare HeMo’s reserve to Naya’s outspokenness about Brittana because, frankly, Naya has always had more latitude to outwardly support whatever ship she wants, due to the fact that, unlike Brittany, Santana has never officially been in a serious relationship on the show.

Thirdly, we should also keep in mind the circumstances of the tweet itself when considering what we should make of it. We all know that HeMo does not have her own Twitter account. In fact, Twitter scares her (see here). We have to keep in mind that her infamous tweet came through a specific channel—namely, Women’s Health magazine.

Now, it seems to me that HeMo probably pre-generated the #BrittanyonGlee tweet series prior to the time the finale aired. (Indeed, considering the fact that she performed a concert that night during the Glee time slot, I can say this with some certainty…) While it is possible she wrote out what she wanted to say in the tweets a few hours prior to when WH posted them, I suspect—and this is just speculation—that she probably generated them as part of her original interview with WH and some poor intern at WH did the actual posting on Heather’s behalf at the appropriated time.

And why does this matter?

Well, for two reasons:

1. Because it means that HeMo didn’t intend to send a message about Brittana by sending out a hurtful tweet at the exact moment we didn’t get a kiss, as some people in the fandom have suggested that she did. The tweet in question was probably scheduled. The timing was arbitrary. And that means that HeMo didn’t mean it as a specific commentary on Brittana.

2. Unlike Tumblr, the magazine industry does not operate on an instantaneous schedule. Sometimes magazines will print breaking news stories in next day editions, but usually, it takes about two weeks for a story to go from raw interview form into print—and especially in the case of low priority “public interest” stories… like interviews with adorable television actresses, for instance.

Now, the WH article first debuted online on May 19^th, 2011. Nevertheless, if we accept the two week window for publication as a possibility, that means HeMo probably sat for the interview itself sometime around May 2^nd, 2011. And guess what? The “Rumours” episode of Glee didn’t air until May 3^rd, 2011. That means it is definitely not unreasonable to assume that HeMo was still showing support for Bartie because, frankly, when she gave the interview, as far it concerned the viewing public, Bartie was still a couple. (We know that the Glee cast filmed the finale episode starting on April 25^th, so the fact that HeMo mentioned the Heart Locker monologue in one of her other tweets shouldn’t affect our timeline for their publication…)

As others have said, I have no doubt that when Brittana happens—and it will happen, because Brittana is so on—Heather will show just as much courtesy and respect towards Brittana as she has Bartie.

As an aside, HeYa has made comments in the past about how RIB have sometimes chastised them for allowing their real life friendship to affect how they act onscreen. (For instance, during the so-called Brittana Rift between 2x04 and 2x12, HeYa would try to sit next to each other during choir room scenes and the director would have to remind them that Brittany needed to sit next to Artie instead of Santana for storyline purposes…) HeMo is therefore probably very conscious of the fact that, even though Naya is her best friend and they love working together, she needs to support whatever storyline the writers provide for her character. It’s just part of being an actress. Hence, if Brittany is part of Bartie, then HeMo needs to be for Bartie. And if Brittany is part of Brittana? Well, then, we can all look forward to HeMo being for that, too.

With all of this in mind, the fact is, we don’t really know how HeMo feels about Brittana, because, as I’ve said elsewhere, it is impossible for us as fans to discern the true feelings or real life situation of a celebrity based on his or her public statements and persona.

The bottom line is that this doesn’t matter anyway. As thejollyape says, it certainly hurts to think that HeMo might not support Brittana in the same way we do, because it “feels like you’re a houseguest that has overstayed their welcome,” yes. Nevertheless, I don’t think we have any reason to panic about her preferences, because, while some fans have suggested that her Bartie bias may be enough to sink our ship, the fact is, ultimately, HeMo doesn’t get to decide what happens to Brittany, just as we don’t. For better or for worse, RIB have the final say on what happens to Brittana. (I mean, if the actors did dictate what happened to their characters, don’t you think Naya would have scored us a Brittana kiss by now? Or that pregnancy spin-off?)

And the good news? Ryan has told us that Brittana is on.

Moral of this story:

1. HeMo can ship whoever she wants. She is a consummate professional and I respect her preferences and feelings, even if they differ from my own.

2. Regardless of what HeMo tweets, this is no time to jump ship. Brittana is on and I feel confident that when Santana and Brittany finally do get together, Heather Morris will show nothing but support and love for the ship.

3. I love Heather Morris. She is a wonderful, talented, and considerate human being. We owe Brittana just as much to her as we do Naya.

Peace.