Browniegate was a protest started by 8-Bit Book Club host Emily Axford on the 13th of October 2017 upon her claims that no one likes brownies or eats them on their own.

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Timeline Edit

Events Leading to Browniegate Edit

The events leading up to Browniegate began after Emily hosted a party where her gluten-free brownies were left untouched. This, combined with her having to eat the leftovers for the next week, caused Emily realise she didn't like brownies either, believing they were too dry. Emily then began to question if anyone even liked brownies in the first place, or if people claimed they did, did they just mean they liked them with other desserts.

Episode 36 (Week 1) Edit

Episode 36 - World of Warcraft: The Shattering: The Prelude to Cataclysm (Part 2) began with host Brian Murphy stating that before the podcast Emily said she had something she really wants to talk even though it has nothing to do with the podcast. Emily began to explain her point of view stating (controversially) that "people don't like brownies" and asking "Have you ever seen some one eat a naked brownie?... It doesn't happen!". The other hosts Brian Murphy and Caldwell Tanner disagreed wholeheartedly with Emily's claims and mocked her for them.

The Interim (Week 1) Edit

Over the week between episodes, a thread was started on the 8-Bit Book Club subreddit by long time listener DMCDawg titled "Brownie appreciation thread". Sitting currently at 24 upvotes with a 100% upvoted rate, the thread gained 15 comments which were in the far majority positive and supportive of brownies. It's also here where the protest was officially named by host Caldwell Tanner.

Episode 37 (Week 2) Edit

In episode 37 next week, the episode closes with Emily saying that she still holds her opinion despite the backlash it received. To back up her argument she did some "investigative journalism" and recorded interviews with multiple people for their thoughts on brownies. The interviews gave a wide range of opinions, some saying they're not fans of them overall, one saying they prefer brownie bites, and some liking them. Murph and Caldwell conceded that not everyone likes brownies, though still pointed out that her claims that "no one likes brownies" and that she's "never seen someone eat one" is insane. Murph then tells a story of how in the interim, he and Emily saw a child asking their mother "Mom, can I have my brownie?" and then eating it in front of Emily while humming "Yum yum yum".

Theories Edit

A theory behind the events that led up to Browniegate has been discussed between fans, saying that it sounded like Emily came to believe no one liked brownies because she made bad dry gluten-free brownies that neither her friends or herself enjoyed. Emily did address this, saying the pie was also gluten-free and people still liked it, but she neglected to consider that gluten is way less important in pie quality than brownie quality.