In Other Words, the Portland business whose storefront was used as to depict the Women and Women First feminist bookstore in "Portlandia," claimed its decision to cut ties with the show stemmed from a filming that "saw our store left a mess," among myriad other transgressions.
"Several months ago the In Other Words community agreed to discontinue our relationship with Portlandia," the statement, which contains harsh language, reads. "This was a direct response to a particular egregious filming of the show in our space which saw our store left a mess, our staff mistreated, and our repeated attempts to obtain accountability or resolution dismissed."
The post's author then claims that the show "has had a net negative effect on our neighborhood and the city of Portland as a whole."
Those net negatives, according to In Other Words, include helping fuel mass displacement in the city, airing trans-antagonistic and trans-mysogynistic sketches and neglecting to hire actors of color.
Black Lives Matter Portland meets at In Other Words, according to the post. The organization's Facebook page includes a link to the blog post, as well as an earlier story from Willamette Week with a comment urging visitors to donate to the store's GoFundMe campaign.
According to the In Other Words blog post, the show's crew asked the bookstore to remove its window art supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.
The decision to cut ties with the show, according to the post, came after its current board of directors, staff and volunteers collectively agreed to do so. None of them gave "Portlandia" the green-light to film there six years ago, the post says.
The blog post elaborates on a poster that appeared on the store's window Wednesday with the title "F*** Portlandia" that accused the show of "transmisogyny, racism, gentrification, queer antagonism" and "devaluation of feminist discourse."
Fred Armisen's performance as Candace in the Women and Women First sketches earned the most ire in the online statement. The In Other Words blog post says the joke's "sole punchline throws trans femmes under the bus by holding up their gender presentation for mockery and ridicule."
The post author also claims that In Other Words loses money when "Portlandia" films there. Although the show pays a fee in order to use the space, it doesn't cover lost profits or compensate neighboring businesses when they close for a shoot.
In Other Words also says that although tourists stop by to take selfies on the sidewalk or photos of the storefront, they rarely, if ever, make purchases.
An administrator for the In Other Words Facebook page directed The Oregonian/OregonLive to the blog post when asked for a comment. A spokesperson for IFC hadn't responded to a request for comment for an earlier story.
--Eder Campuzano
503.221.4344
@edercampuzano
ecampuzano@oregonian.com