A furry is a person who dresses in animal costumes. A volleyball player is an athlete who spikes balls to score points. Both enjoy getting together in groups of like-minded folks; neither likes being harassed.
This past January, a San Jose hotel booked a furry convention alongside a high school girls’ volleyball tournament. The convention, FURther CONfusion, hosted about 3,000 furries dressed as wolves, mooses, pandas, oxen and such. The volleyball tournament brought in young female athletes from high schools around the country.
At first, the two groups got along without incident. And then, a Twitter user who goes by the name “Hottie McThottie” (probably not her Christian name) had something unkind to say:
TIL: Pretending to be fake animal people is inherently disgusting (@em_mcmath says so). GUYS I HAD NO IDEA pic.twitter.com/y7t5DV9AT1
— Scott G. (@SimbaMCO) January 19, 2015
Of course, the furries did not care for that.
I feel very judged when I walk into hollister bc all the people who work there and skinny and gorgeous and I feel like a peasant
— Emily McMeth (@mcmethy) January 18, 2015
In fact, she’s written about furries before!
"I would be a furry if Nick Jonas was into that" -Carly Andrade
— Emily McMeth (@mcmethy) December 22, 2014
But on this particular night she was displeased about furries. Then a friend chimed in to agree:
@em_mcmath @sabbs_4972 THOSE FURRIES ARE SCARRY MAN
— ᴄᴀᴍ🌻 (@Camille__Finley) January 19, 2015
The furries all piled in after that to voice their displeasure.
@nbowa @Camille__Finley @em_mcmath @sabbs_4972 I dunno, I used to play in volleyball tournaments. I've seen some terrifying things there! :3
— 🐆 Zeigler 🐆 (@ZeiglerJaguar) January 19, 2015
@Camille__Finley @em_mcmath @sabbs_4972 But we're not scary we just want to shed on your sofa and give you hugs. Why do you hate us, racist?
— Pink Snow kitty (@HugoThePinkCat) January 19, 2015
@Camille__Finley please stop spreading false information about a group of people you know nothing about. @em_mcmath @sabbs_4972 @RahneKallon
— Papangelo (@PapaRedFox) January 19, 2015
@Camille__Finley @ZeiglerJaguar @em_mcmath @sabbs_4972 I agree, furries are scary! Stay away at all costs!
— Future King of Wales (@nbowa) January 19, 2015
@em_mcmath see furries are the real cool kids pic.twitter.com/6AB8YHh8kr
— CoalTheWolf (@coalthewolf) January 19, 2015
I think everyone should follow @em_mcmath she seems like a great, furry lovin’ gal
— ✨Sully✨ (@Roegabro) January 19, 2015
@em_mcmath FURRY FLASHMOB! :3
— Roadkill-Scratch (@That_Dog_Tho) January 19, 2015
@em_mcmath why dont people learn, if you talk about furrys and stuff then furry accounts will find you and then this'll happen. The end.
— Gavin~☆ (@ZoroarkWizard) January 19, 2015
Hey @Doctor_Red_Fox shitstorm on @em_mcmath lmao she's a furry hater #fc2015 #volleyballproblems #VolleyballGirl
— Kody Collie @blfc :3 (@KodyCollie) January 19, 2015
Hottie’s Twitter inbox was clearly blowing up at this point, because she then tweeted this:
LolZ RT @em_mcmath: ALL THESE FURRY ACCOUNTS ARE RETWEETING ME
— Hawkwing (@hawkwing_) January 19, 2015
Someone photoshopped a fursuit head on someone’s volleyball pic, which is a little unkind, but we’re not sure to whom.
@Doctor_Red_Fox @KodyCollie @Ghimno @foxalbiazul @em_mcmath YOOOO LOOKS LIKE YOU'RE THE FURRY NOW pic.twitter.com/LK6mVHawl5
— ❄Blizzard Warning❄ (@blizzard_wuffy) January 19, 2015
But a lot of the furries were actually pretty nice about it.
@em_mcmath I admit, I was amused by your initial tweets about the con, but no one deserves harassment, and I'm sorry you dealt with that 🙁
— Meadow (Natasha L.) (@lupinia) January 19, 2015
@em_mcmath If it's any consolation, furries have the attention span of a goldfish, and this will be forgotten by dinnertime tomorrow.
— Meadow (Natasha L.) (@lupinia) January 19, 2015
At the end of the day everyone calmed down and felt pretty chill about the whole thing.
I think that tonight was cool because 1) I went to the drive in 2) I got harassed by Furries via twitter & 3) I got in n out
— Emily McMeth (@mcmethy) January 19, 2015
@em_mcmath o.o I sincerely apologize on behalf of those of us who would never do such a thing. *Gives balloon* pic.twitter.com/lODBY1Gg4G
— just some guy (@PandezPanda) January 19, 2015
Good job, everyone! See you at ConFuzzled (May 22 to 26 in Birmingham, England).
