Saving Derpy Hooves...

[Aidinthel]

Problem with that is that it seems Hasbro is keeping the name, which means I'd have to imagine everyone being insulting to that pony, which is a whole other can of weirdness.

That depends on how the character is used in the future. At the moment Dash is the only one who's called her by that name (or any name, for that matter). If she's never directly addressed again we can continue using whatever fanon we want.

 

[Snoozer]

From what I heard was it a guy trolling, who adressed his "concern" about Derpy. There was also a petition with around 11k people telling Hasbro not to change Derpy a few days later.
There was something posted in the user group about that issue as well, also this:

Spoiler

I can't guarantee that the image is real, but I heard that they aren't going to change a thing from other sources as well.

 

[DarthFennec]

It's not offensive at all. I have a problem with her voice (it's too deep), but I don't see how any of it's actually offensive ... especially since hundreds of other things on TV have a similar character and nobody ever complains about it ...

 

[chadachada123]

The voice has started to grow on me a bit, but I definitely think that it should be redone with a more girly spin and with less obvious clumsiness.

That said, Derpy is tied for my favorite pony. Any other name just doesn't cut it.

 

[Coldster]

This seems to be a similar situation to that one time where a parent was extremely offended by Portal 2 poking fun at orphans. Sure it wasn't exactly right to do so but the game developers obviously don't have a grudge against orphans or had any intention to hurt their feelings. It was just used as a joke, which is exactly what is happening here. Derpy is not at all an offensive name. I have an autistic brother who watches the show, when I asked him if he though it was offensive, he was baffled that I asked. "Of course not" he said, "why on Earth would be offended by THAT?". To top this all off, lets have Steve Hughes talking about being "offended":


^ That right there pretty much sums up my feelings for this.

 

[Zhadramekel]

I heard on the bronies memebase that the accusation was that Derpy made it ok to laugh at disabled people. Derpy isn't a parody of someone with a disability, she's just clumsy.

 

[Otaku World Order]

I know I never imagined her speaking that way.

Part of the problem is that the voice actress thought Derpy was male. Apparently she was mimicking a specific kid she used to know.

I just thought she sounded Canadian.

But yeah, this whole fiasco has taught me one thing at least; that the word ableist exists, and that I despise it, almost as much as I despise the word heteronormative.

Good sir, are you suggesting we Canadians speak in an odd sounding fashion? I do protest. I ask you to stop such slander post haste!

I'm kidding, of course. Honestly though, I'm never surprised by this kind of thing anymore. Any day now I expect someone to ***** about how Pinkie Pie is making fun of people with ADHD or something.

Assuming someone hasn't already done that.

 

[Gnoekeos]

As an adult male who lacks the proper brain damage I'm not obsessed or even interested in my little pony but that one particular character was brought to my attention multiple times (That one and Doctor Hooves) by a deranged brony who won't leave me alone. From what he was telling me she was supposed to be called Ditzy-do or something. I don't know about offensive but Derpy is a pretty annoying word.