YouTube / LupisVulpes
A hate campaign launched by those within the animation community has all but “destroyed” another Christian-based business. Emily Arunt, who’s been able to pay for her education at Regent University due to her success as an artist, has come under fire after she refused two customer requests.
Arunt discovered her passion for art after watching people draw and animate online when she was only 11 years old. She’s made a name for herself as Lupis Vulpes, a top animator known for creating colorful animal characters. She has amassed over 200,000 subscribers on YouTube.
Arunt is also an outspoken Christian who isn’t shy about sharing her faith. On Twitter, she identifies as a “follower of Jesus Christ.” She is quite aware that she stands “out” in the animating community “like a sore thumb because I love Christ and I didn’t draw the same things that other people would draw.”
Although she’s been able to cover the cost of tuition, room, and board for her first three semesters, Arunt may need to look for other means of financial support. Her personal convictions related to the LGBTQ and BLM movements may have put her business in jeopardy.
Earlier this summer, a customer asked Arunt to draw a character and include the flag for the transgender movement. She denied the request, saying “I told them I don’t feel comfortable doing that and I’m a Christian.”
Arunt then said another customer urged her to donate money towards the Black Lives Matter organization to demonstrate the animator’s stand against social injustice. Arunt denied this request as well.
“They wanted me to earn a bunch of money for the organization as well as advertise for it but it just felt weird and manipulative so I wasn’t going to do it,” she explained.
As she was driving to Regent University, her phone “started to blow up with messages and alerts from people.” After doing some investigation, Arunt learned that the animation community had turned on her. It had officially “called out” her “transphobic and homophobic views.”
In a six-page document titled “Beware of Lupisvulpes,” the community included links to screenshots and social media posts “exposing” her alleged crimes. The community that once bragged and commissioned her work had officially black-listed her.
“As far as my business, I believe it’s destroyed,” Arunt lamented.
She isn’t giving up on her education, however, and wholeheartedly believes God will use the hate campaign for His purposes.
“It looks like from the outside that I’ve lost but I really think that this has been a victory for the Lord. If this could have helped one person to find Christ then it’s worth it to me to lose my whole business,” she said. “I really mean that.”
