‘Spider-Man’ fans defend Jon Watts after ‘Lotus’ creator dubs his films ‘garb’

The hits keep coming in the bizarre fallout surrounding Spider-Man fan film Spider-Man: Lotus. Only days after the upcoming fan film trended on social media following the discovery of multiple posts containing racist language by both the star and director of the film, it appears that the director, Gavin J. Konop, has returned praise by Spider-Man: No Way Home director Jon Watts with a virtual slap in the face.

The latest allegation follows a string of leaked direct messages allegedly from Konop and Lotus star Warden Wayne containing multiple racial epithets and ableist slurs.

A screenshot of a direct message alleged to have been from Konop is being circulated online now that reads “I just got a message from JON WATTS HOLY SHIT” immediately followed by a second message reading “his movies still fucking GARB tho.”

Watts had reached out to Konop last year, just months before Spider-Man: No Way Home was about to be released, to compliment the 18-year-old director on his fan film. Watts DMed the filmmaker to tell him that Lotus “looks awesome!” as well as sending Konop a GIF of Willem Dafoe’s Green Goblin saying “You and I are not so different.”

Konop’s public reaction was a Twitter post showing a screencap of Watts’ message, captioned “I’ve been screaming for the past 30 minutes.” But it seems that behind the scenes, he was more impressed by Watts’ fame than his body of work.

Konop has been publicly critical of many superhero movies stating that they are “focused on marketability and they’re focused on selling toys.”

Spider-Man fans have taken to social media to react to the alleged messages with outrage over the slight to Watts with many even praising the “instant karma” effect of Wayne and Konops’ leaked DMs on Lotus‘s future.

Some social media users have also pointed out that of the many controversies swarming about Spider-Man: Lotus, perhaps the hurt feelings of the director of one of the most successful movies of all time should take a backseat to the real and self-acknowledged problems of racist and ableist behavior by the star and director of Lotus.

Konop has released a statement claiming that the screenshots in question are photoshopped.