Participating in the culture war frequently requires you to completely ignore all historical context in order to be mad about women and minorities, and the latest example of this is the Avatar larpers who are pouncing on the new Seven Havens animated series mere days after it premiered on Paramount+. The show, which takes place more than 200 years after The Legend of Korra, not only stars a young amputee girl named Pavi as one of the new Avatars, but also has a same-sex couple in the girl’s friend Jae and his boyfriend Datu. Anyone who actually cares about this franchise will know that Avatar has always starred heroes with disabilities like blind earth bender Toph, literally does not have any white people in it because its world is based on Asian and Indigenous cultures, and has featured a canonically bisexual woman as its protagonist in The Legend of Korra. At least one member of the Avatar cast is getting into the scrap with these guys, and has no patience for their prejudice or their disregard for the series’ history.
Greg Baldwin, the voice behind Zuko’s uncle Iroh from 2007 to 2014 after original actor Mako’s passing, swooped in when some rage baiters claimed that Seven Havens shouldn’t include any queer or disabled characters because it’s “supposed to be a kids show,” I guess because it’s animated? Not like people haven’t been watching this series for decades and the original fanbase is definitely old enough to drink, but go off. Baldwin mocked the reaction, saying that reminders that queer and disabled people exist must be “traumatic” for someone so committed to an alternate reality. Topher Ngo, who voices Datu in Seven Havens, thanked him for his support. When another person responded saying that “Lgbtq f*ggotry has no place in kids show,” Baldwin succinctly responded with an image of Iroh giving a giant middle finger to the camera.
— Greg Baldwin (@GregBaldwinIroh) October 12, 2026
Iroh was last played by Artt Butler, who played the role in 2023 in the Quest For Balance video game. In recent years, the series’ voice talent has been recast to be more reflective of the franchise’s Asian inspirations, but it’s nice to see that Baldwin is willing to help swat away bigots who are pretending to care about a series now that they know there’s social media points to be gained by feigning outrage about gay people on TV shows.
In general, the reaction to Jae and Datu’s relationship has been positive thus far. They’re super cute together in the screentime they’ve gotten, though previous Avatar storylines have fans bracing for some kind of gutting twist down the line that could put their relationship in jeopardy.
Avatar: Seven Havens is streaming on Paramount+, with groups of new episodes coming every Friday for the rest of October.
