‘Twerking Superpowers?’ Megan Thee Stallion’s New Anime Sparks Backlash After Preview Shows Heroine Fighting With Her Butt

The internet just got its first tiny preview of Hotties, and let’s just say the early reactions are… not exactly unanimous excitement.

Over the weekend at BlerdCon, attendees were reportedly shown about 30 seconds of footage from the upcoming anime being developed by Megan Thee Stallion and animation veteran Carl Jones, which is expected to eventually land on Amazon Prime Video.

And according to people who saw it, the clip was… exactly the kind of thing that was guaranteed to start a debate online.

The short preview reportedly featured Megan’s animated character fighting enemies with exaggerated moves, including literally using her backside as a weapon and unleashing what some viewers described as “twerking super powers.”

In what sounds like a mix between a hip-hop music video and a Saturday morning cartoon, the character apparently beats up opponents using twerking-based attacks, which has already sparked a pretty heated conversation online.

Some fans thought the preview looked wild and unapologetically over-the-top, arguing that it fits Megan’s larger-than-life personality and the playful style of many modern animated shows.

But others were a lot less impressed.

Critics on X quickly pointed out that building an anime around a Black female character whose main gimmick appears to be fighting people with her butt risks leaning directly into some of the same stereotypes critics have long accused parts of the entertainment industry of pushing.

Several commenters argued that while Megan’s music persona is intentionally bold and provocative, turning that into an animated character whose powers revolve around twerking and exaggerated sexuality might not be the most flattering representation — especially for a project being introduced to the anime and “blerd” community, where many fans have been pushing for more diverse and thoughtful portrayals of Black characters.

To be fair, it’s still extremely early. The preview was reportedly only about half a minute long, and no official footage has been released publicly yet.

But the fact that a 30-second clip already has people arguing across social media probably tells you everything you need to know about how this show might be received once it actually drops.

At the moment, Hotties is still in development, and it’s expected to eventually stream on Amazon Prime Video once production is complete.