Phil and Lil’s mum Betty will be openly gay in the Rugrats reboot series, becoming a “beacon for young queer people”.
Betty has been a low-key queer icon for ages because of her unashamed love for sports, boisterous attitude and her trademark purple shirt with the symbol for “female” on it.
Natalie Morales, who came out as queer in 2017, is the voice actor playing Betty in the upcoming Rugrats reboot.
The Parks and Recreation star told The AV Club that fans of the original show “may have had an inkling Betty was a member of the alphabet mafia”.
Morales added that Betty holds a lot of power and influence for young queer people looking for examples of “living your life happily and healthily”.
“Betty is a single mum with her own business who has twins and still has time to hand out with her friends and her community, and I think it’s just so great because examples of living your life happily and healthily as an out queer person is just such a beacon for young queer people who may not have examples of that,” she said.
“And yeah, Betty is a fictional cartoon, but even cartoons were hugely influential for me as a kid and if I’d been watching Rugrats and seen Better casually talking about her ex-girlfriend, I think at least a part of me would have felt like things might be okay in the future.”
The AV Club reported that in the Rugrats reboot, Betty owns a cafe called Betty’s Beans, loves football and cracks jokes about her ex-girlfriends while parenting twins Phil and Lil.
In the original Rugrats, Betty was the tough and outspoken wife of Howard DeVille. It’s unclear if the reboot will address their relationship.
Betty was originally played by Kath Soucie, who also voiced Phil and Lil.
The Rugrats revival series premieres on 27 May on streaming service Paramount Plus.
