Well, here we go again. There’s a new controversy in Hollywood. This one is about the cartoon character Betty Boop. Let me walk you through what I think is really going on here. Ready?

Now everyone is supposedly up in arms over the casting of Quinta Brunson as Betty Boop. It’s worth noting that she will also be the writer and a producer! That’s actually important to my theory as well.

Another important aspect of the Betty Boop movie story is the involvement of the creator of Betty Boop, Max Fleisher’s Grandson. Yeah. Fleisher’s grandson is involved. That’s funny to me and also very telling.

The Fleischer family has a few characters, Betty Boop, Popeye, and most notably, Superman. But the family hasn’t been involved in any of the live action or animated Superman flicks. My guess is that maybe they get a little bit of dough from Superman, but that Betty Boop is all they really have in terms of a potential cash cow.

So, what do you do when all you have is one character and an idea for a movie? You need press. You need people talking about your project. Well, mission accomplished! They did it. They got a writer, producer and actress all in one fell swoop and now the internet does the rest! Congrats!

Now that all the free press has rolled in and Betty Boop is back on America’s radar, maybe there’s time to actually talk about the movie and all that good stuff. Hint: There IS a movie here. A very expensive period piece, but hey, it could be a movie!

Maybe a black performer did inspire the look of Betty. Okay. Kind of interesting. However, the character of Betty Boop was always portrayed as white. Why is that? You can kind of see how that could be a movie.

Here’s the 100-million-dollar question though: Can Fleischer Studios pull off another big money trick? A movie set in the 1930’s is probably going to cost a fortune. A large fortune. They don’t have the cash (I’m guessing) That’s why they have a deal with a girl to produce, write and star in the thing. That’s nuts! Can you think of anyone in today’s Hollywood that wears that many hats? Maybe Tommy Cruise. Maybe.

So, they announce a kind of race swap for Betty Boop and got a bunch of free press. Neat. The Fleischer people still have a giant money hill to climb. If they’re not careful, they’ll lose the character of Betty Boop in the deal too. They lost Superman somewhere down the line. Don’t think they can afford to lose Betty Boop too. Be careful in those money meetings Fleischer Fam. One day, you’re making the best Superman stuff ever and the next day, you’re sitting on the sidelines.