Gay people and the Clue board game have always shared being camp in common. Like the golden age of crime writing, Clue is notoriously theatrical in style. So are gay people. Perhaps that is why the internet is thirsting over how the 2023 Hasbro edition of Clue said “gay rights!” and made every character identifiably, archetypally, gay.
All of the men are gay philosophy professors. But the women? Hasbro really said, “put a butch, a power lesbian, and a femme in for the lesbians.”
I mean look at Peacock in the blue suit. Isn’t that power lesbian Rose Garcia from The Real L Word?
Isn’t Chef White the butch fuckboi who ghosted you after making you fall in love with her?
Isn’t Scarlet the femme who tears up the dancefloor at your local gay bar – the one Chef White is now dating, instead of you?
Clue, known as Cluedo in some parts of the world, was first released in the late 1940s. It has been popular ever since, with fans even taking things off the board to host Clue parties where they become the characters. With murder mysteries, like the movie Knives Out, always surfacing and resurfacing in popular culture, it looks like Clue will be around for a long time yet.
Hasbro deliberately made the 2023 edition’s characters more diverse. “For years, the inspired mysteries of CLUE have excited fans across the globe through countless game night interrogations, cult classic entertainment offerings and iconic pop culture fandom moments,” Adam Biehl, SVP & General Manager of Hasbro Gaming, stated. “Today we have a game that more accurately reflects the diversity of its players.”
Some of their names have changed, too. “Players can choose to play as Miss Scarlett, Colonel Mustard, Mayor Green, Chef White, Solicitor Peacock, or Professor Plum” the official description for the game reads.
