‘Fuck Portlandia’ blogpost by In Other Words bookstore, the setting for many sketches, says the show ‘has had a net negative effect on the city as a whole’

Should feminist bookstore workers Candace and Toni appear in future seasons of IFC’s Portlandia, they will not be in familiar environs.

In previous seasons, sketches featuring the duo – played by the show’s stars, Carrie Brownstein and Fred Armisen – were mainly filmed in the Portland feminist bookstore and community center In Other Words.

Is hip Portland over? How the rent crisis is displacing the city's creative soul Read more

But on Thursday afternoon, Shanti, one of 20 or so volunteers who run the roomy, neat and slightly worn down space on North-east Killingsworth Street, confirmed that the doors would no longer be thrown open to the producers of the sketch comedy.

“That was a decision made by people who are no longer part of the space,” she said. “The current volunteers and board members are no longer interested in having Portlandia here.”

Over six seasons – beginning in the very first episode – In Other Words was transformed into the fictional Women and Women First bookshop, over which reign Candace and Toni, a duo of radical feminists. The space itself – with its chalkboard calendar and homemade shop fittings – will have an immediate familiarity for Portlandia viewers. It’s become part of the show’s visual world.

Behind the scenes, the relationship was damaged beyond repair some months ago. Finally, on Wednesday, the collective that runs the real life space published a blog post entitled Fuck Portlandia, in which the arrangement with the show was formally, and very publicly, terminated.



Portlandia: from hipster satire to alternative universe Read more

The post highlighted a particular incident during filming several months ago, when, it is claimed, the shop was left in a mess and neighbours disturbed. “They disrespected the space and disrespected our neighbours,” Shanti said, without offering further details. The post also said that the flat fee the show paid was not enough to cover lost sales.

But its objections went much further than these practical concerns.

In the post, Portlandia was described as “a show which is in every way diametrically opposed to our politics and the vision of society we’re organizing to realize. A show which has had a net negative effect on our neighborhood and the city of Portland as a whole.”

(Attempts to seek comment on these accusations from IFC and Carrie Brownstein’s publicist were made, but there was no response before deadline.)

According to the post, the Candace and Toni sketches are also “trans-antagonistic and trans-misogynist”. This stance reflects changes at the space, and perhaps changes in debates within the feminist movement. As Shanti explained: “We’re trying to make it more accessible to trans folks and people of colour, because it hasn’t always been.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest In Other Words: ‘The additional exposure we have received from our time on Portlandia does not provide financial or political support of any kind.’ Photograph: Jason Wilson

The objection to Armisen’s drag act – described in the post as “a deeply shitty joke whose sole punchline throws trans femmes under the bus” – reflects that new sensitivity to trans issues. A sign at the front counter pointedly states: “Trans-excluding feminism is bad feminism.”

The show was also accused of erasing people of color – “Portland is white but it’s not that damn white” – and there was another claim that production staff had requested that a Black Lives Matter poster be removed from the front of the store for filming.

The post also hit on the hottest of hot-button issues in the City of Roses – gentrification. “Portlandia is fueling mass displacement in Portland,” it claimed, because realtors were using the show’s “popularity and insipid humor” to market the city as “something twee and whimsical for the incoming technocrat hordes”.

But the controversy also speaks to the way in which Portlandia has become identified with changes in the city itself that many long-term residents – especially activists and those with fewer financial resources – are not comfortable with. To many, the show looks like the marketing arm of the gentrification driving those changes.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest In Other Words has to pay rent in a neighbourhood affected by gentrification. Photograph: Jason Wilson

Since In Other Words moved to north-east Portland in 2006, gentrification in its historically black neighbourhood has accelerated.

Last year, its MLK-Alberta neighbourhood saw an average 7.4% increase in rent on two-bedroom apartments. A 5.3% increase in the city as a whole saw the median rent on a one-bedroom apartment crack $1,400 last month. Racial diversity in MLK-Alberta declined almost 20% between 2000 and 2013, as wealthier white residents moved in, and black residents were pushed east into cheaper areas.

According to the latest figures from Portland Housing Bureau, the average black family can’t afford to rent any kind of housing in the neighbourhood anymore, and nor can single mothers. In Other Words has to pay rent in the same difficult market.

The whiteness of Portlandia seems egregious in these circumstances. As Shanti put it: “This area of Portland used to be primarily African American, and people are being priced out. Portlandia has shown a white version of Portland. They haven’t portrayed Portland in a way that’s inclusive of all the other kinds of people who live here. We want to create a community conversation about that.”

Just as gentrification by wealthy incomers is driving city politics, it’s also fraying the relationship between those producing a particular image of the city, and those bearing the brunt of the changes that Portlandia is a part of.

For some, the jokes are wearing thin.