Twenty-three-year-old Emily Arunt, a skilled animator and a student at Regent University, knew that her Christian faith set her apart from many in the animation community, but she never expected to be blacklisted because of her Biblical beliefs.
Arunt’s passion for art began when she was 11 years old, and over the years she’s gained recognition as an online animator under the name LupisVulpes.
With a following of more than 214,000 on YouTube, Arunt would often share her art on various social media platforms and frequently accepted commissioned animation projects. Her business was so successful, she was able to pay for her tuition and room and board for her first year-and-a-half of college with her earnings.
But all that changed after Arunt refused to compromise on two commissioned pieces.
“[A] person commissioned me to draw a character with a trans flag, and I told them I don’t feel comfortable doing that and I’m a Christian,” she told CBN News.
Then, another customer insisted Arunt support the organization Black Lives Matter by promoting it on her social media and raising funds for the group.
“It just felt weird and manipulative, so I wasn’t going to do that,” she said.
Once the animation community learned that Arunt declined the two projects and instead decided to stick to her religious convictions, she was quickly shunned.
A six-page “callout” document was created and distributed online to “inform and promote awareness” of Arunt’s so-called “transphobic and homophobic views.”
“I find it incredibly unfair,” Arunt said. “But as we all know, it’s really common on the internet.”
Although she’s experienced incredible online harassment the last couple months, Arunt created a response video in which she expressed her love for all people.
“I love each and every one of you,” she said, “even those that hate me and viciously attack me now. I don’t hold it against you, because I know those who attack likely have suffered attacks in the past and must be hurting deeply inside to be doing this to me. I’m also praying for you, because I want you to find joy in your life.
“… If I need to apologize for anything,” Arunt continued, “it’s that I’m sorry I didn’t share more openly with you how much God cares about you.”
Arunt’s reputation has been tarnished in the animation community and she believes that her business is “destroyed,” but she refuses to abandon her Biblical principles.
“My goal in saying this is not to please people,” she ended her video. “Nothing I say can do that. My goal is to lay my life and my business down for Christ. I do what I do because I believe it’s what God wants me to do. And I say what I say because I want to honor Him. If anything I say can help someone realize how special they are and how much God loves them, then it’s worth it to me to lose all that I have.”
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