>at this year’s Bay Area Brony Spectacular Convention, more confrontation broke out. Every year, bronies descend upon an airport hotel outside of San Francisco to celebrate their love of My Little Pony. It’s normal convention stuff: toy vendors, appearances from voice actors, costume contests. But, this year, something strange happened. The management hired an actor to play a “villain” as part of a running skit throughout the con, and that actor fashioned their character after Trump---mostly by calling to “build a wall.” Some of the bronies seemed to take the joke seriously. Dozens of them showed up in red “Make Equestria Great Again” hats, chanting at one point to “deport the Zebras.” (Zebras, for those of you who aren’t familiar with the series, represent people of color.)
>“Their defense is that they are ‘IRL shitposting’ which pretty much means acting like a jerk as a farce,” a staffer at the con, who asked to remain anonymous, wrote in an email. “Several of these people, most of them former friends, are indeed sexist, racist, and transphobic. It’s doubtful to believe some of them are ‘just joking’ when they have displayed bigotry or ignorance before.”
>The non-alt-bronies seem to be tired of it. So why haven’t they divided themselves further, retreating into their own political subcultures to get away from the alt-bronies? Or just quit the fandom outright? What’s keeping them together amid political discord?
It looks like someone couldn't handle the banter.