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So here's how it goes down: a certain young fox gets a call to be on a talk show. Said fox agrees to discuss foxy things, brings her feline boyfriend along. Fox paws out a journal entry beforehand, promising to represent her beloved fandom as closely as possible.

The show airs, the fox spills the juicy details, and the rest of the foxes and cats and kiwis in the kingdom are infuriated. The lords and ladies of the kingdom elect to exile the offending fox lest she ruin the self esteem of their subjects.

Sound like an urban fairy tale? Alas, that is the story of Chew Fox, a furry who agreed to discuss sex on the September 16th, 2009 edition of The Tyra Banks Show.

The show ultimately aired, and Chew quite directly stated that, yes, some furries do have sex in costume. She further elaborated on some more euphemistic aspects of the fandom, such as spirituality, art, meets, and the stark absence of bestiality. Chew even went as far as to state that furry is not exclusively sexual (Editor's note: damn close, though.)

Within hours, her page on Fur Affinity was inundated some 900 angry comments, about how she and her boyfriend were an embarrassment, etcetera etcetera.

Three hours after the show, Chew's account on Fur Affinity was closed. The official reason from the administration? "User has brought shame to the entire fandom for their own personal self gain," akin to the Vatican's Crimen sollicitationis.  Because, you know, things you do that aren't related to the website warrant website-related sanctions.

Way to go, assholes. Once again, the bulk of the furry fandom can't stand seeing the worst in themselves, and end up having to cover their own asses to preserve their already tattered reputation. One small problem: If furry as a whole didn't serve as a doormat for every transgressive fetish imaginable, if furries weren't exhibitionists at every opportunity sans when cameras are around, if furries didn't make embarrassment a habit, then the online reaction would never have occurred.

But FENRIS! She made us look like FREAKS! You already did that long ago. Not a day goes by on Second Life that I don't see furries engaging in what would be illegal offline. I don't remember the last time I was on Fur Affinity that I didn't see pornography that would make the Playboy variety of patron cry. Undeniably, furries are outliers by their own design (not that that's a bad thing, either, until you perceive it at such.)  Therefore, Chew didn't perpetuate this stereotype, you did.

And you know the other two couples on the show, one which engages in group sex with strangers and the other a bigamist, won't get the same flack.

Let's go back to her pre-show journal. Did she represent the fandom accurately?

I'm ashamed to say, she didn't, until we did.

UPDATE:  The administration reversed the ban and apologized for their disgusting comment. The ban was intended to keep drama at a minimum (how, I have no idea.)