As someone who was there, seeing the outrage with Keith and Lance's portrayal in Voltron: Legendary Defender being summed up as "toxic fans being mad that their ship wasn't canon" in the modern day is, how they say... Absolutely fucking insane.
But, first, since the term's definition is debated: How do we define "queerbaiting"?
To queerbait, as a creator on a piece of media, is to use and engage in queer subtext and queer signifiers (as they have been defined throughout queer media's history) without it being written as an organic outcome of queer experience or queer cinema. Rather, it is merely intended to turn a profit. When a queer creator draws from their experience as a queer person to inform how subtext will manifest, that's not queerbaiting. In fact, some may argue that it is a form of queer representation! But, when a queerbaiting writer inserts queer subtext into their media, they intend to use that queer subtext as an instrument for profit. This can mean that they use queerness as a point of advertisement or promotion, to keep queer audiences coming back for the sake of ratings, or other, similar profit-driven motives.
When people say that Voltron: Legendary Defender queerbaited, they are usually saying this in reference to Adam; Shiro's love interest who was used to reveal that he is gay, and who was then IMMEDIATELY killed off in the next scene he was in. Adam and Shiro are a whole other can of worms, honestly, and the show's more egregious example of queerbaiting. (I mean, they're literally on the Wikipedia page FOR queerbaiting, so.) But, this page will be focusing exclusively on Klance. From the ways that it was used to promote the show, to the misleading promises made about Lance's love interest, to the absolute fucking SHITSTORM that took place after season 8 aired... Sit back, relax, and enjoy some good, old-fashioned TEA with me.
First things first, I will cover the way which Klance was used for promotion related to sources outside of the crew directly. This is because these examples are some of the most well-known and well-understood examples of queerbaiting from this show, related to Keith and Lance.
Firstly, the official YouTube channel uploads. While it is worth noting that a few of the official clip uploads' thumbnails had an extreme focus on Lance and Keith...
That is NOT the most egregious thing that they did. Not even close. For, you see, Voltron created a couple of character vlogs in between seasons. These animated vlogs were promotional materials... And were tagged as "Klance".
Well, more specifically, Keith's vlog was. When you look at a YouTube video's source, you can see what things it was tagged as, and doing this revealed that Keith's promotional vlog video was tagged as his and Lance's ship name. Furthermore, at the end of Keith's vlog, a song plays for a small amount of time. This song is REO Speedwagon's "Can't Fight This Feeling"... A LOVE song. This, in combination with the implication made in Shiro's vlog that Lance is the one filming the vlogs for the other Paladins... I mean??
There are multiple instances, as well, of the official Netflix Twitter promoting Klance. See these screenshots (all of which I still see in my nightmares):
So, we had the official Netflix Twitter AND the official clip uploads ALL using Klance to promote the show. But what about the producers? Surely, they must be being more caref-
Hey, look at this picture!
This official art was created to support those effected by Trump winning the presidential election (yeah, talk about a reminder of when this show was being aired), and is infamous for those who used to be in the Voltron fandom. For good reason. I mean, I don't think I have to spell it out for you, but in case I do, here goes: The two people holding the "gender" sign are both canonically women. Pidge has a whole arc about them hiding their gender, and Allura is the only other female Paladin. For "race", we have Keith, a character who went through an arc related to him learning that he's Galra, and Hunk, a person who is not only notably supportive of Keith, but who is also a person of color himself. So, every single person holding a sign is canonically in the oppressed minority of that subject, and/or has an arc related to it. This also applies to Shiro; our "canon" gay rep. So, when the other person holding the LGBT sign is Lance, it is ENTIRELY implied through this image's composition that LANCE is going to be canonically queer, and that he MIGHT even have an entire arc related to it.
Man, even just typing it all up like that gets me excited again... But, no. It just-so happens that one half of the most popular queer ship which people expected to be canon was the one who DIDN'T have any relation to the sign he was holding! Cool. Cool, cool, cool.
Related to this, the people on the crew drew... A LOT of Klance art. I mean. A LOT. Of Klance art. Some art pieces were sold as prints (read: for profit) at conventions (read: a place for promoting media).
The images shown are specifically official crew art that was sold or shown at conventions. However, there is a LOT of other official Klance art that was made and just posted online. In fact, SO much Klance art drawn by the crew exists that it needed its own section on this website! Please navigate to the "official art" page to view all crew art portraying Klance.
There is also, of course, the Keith and Lance shirt sold at Hot Topic. Notably the ONLY Voltron shirt with more than one character on it.
They didn't just imply Klance with art, though. They implied it with words. In regards to Voltron and shipping, Lauren Montgomery and Joaquim Dos Santos (the creators of the show) had the following to say:
Oh, here is the artwork associated with that interview, by the way:
... Very subtle.
And it's not as if the idea of LGBT+ representation in Voltron came out of nowhere, either. We were told that the showrunners wanted LGBT+ representation, as far back as season 1. When only season 1 was released, Lauren said on the subject, "We have those first 13 episodes and if we ever went beyond that, we would like to push the envelope." Which, of course, implied that the representation was something that they had already been working towards.
These Klance shenanigans continued as the on-screen development continued, as well. Eventually, people began to notice Lance continuously being pushed to the side. The comic relief, the "stupid one", but never given any real, serious character development. Thankfully, though, we got reassurance! In response to the question, "Will (Lance) ever get the chance to be someone's first choice and not a rebound?", Lance's VA said, "I think he's gonna be someone's first choice, not just a rebound. He's a funny guy, a good-looking funny dude, he's got lots of skills so yeah, he'd be someone's first choice. Heck yeah!"
Furthermore, Lauren says, in relation to Lance's endgame, "I don't know if Lance knows what he needs. I know what he might look for, but what he might look for isn't what he necessarily needs." Joaquim adds on, "Like Lauren said, whoever Lance chooses, I think what he's looking for is getting to a place that is maybe very different than where he started in the series."
... But then season 7 came. Along with the claims that Shiro and Adam had been planned to be their gay representation "from the start". Which we know is a bold-faced lie for reasons I'll get into later, but Adam is a character introduced in season 7, who then immediately dies. If they planned to have LGBT+ representation since season 1, then why would they wait until season 7 to introduce Adam? Adam's inclusion was rushed, sloppy! It in no way gave the impression that his relationship to Shiro was planned from the start at all.
(But don't think for a moment that Adam's inclusion meant that they weren't implying Keith and Lance would get together through stuff like cover art for the Netflix previews.)
And with season 7 came the Allura, Lotor and Lance love triangle. Which, with season 8, ended in Allura and Lance endgame. Tell me, gentle reader: how is Lance ending up with the alien princess who he had fallen for at LITERAL first sight, and pursued for the ENTIRE SHOW, Lance ending up somewhere very different than where he started? If the thing about him looking for (seeking out, flirting with) someone he wants rather than what he needs is true, then is his endgame someone who he wanted rather than needed? And, PRAY tell... HOW is Lance Allura's FIRST choice? Even Lance being in a love triangle with Allura and Lotor sort of diminishes that. But Allura also continously rejected him throughout the series, up until the last few seasons! How is that Lance being her first choice? And she only chose Lance once Lotor was NO LONGER AN OPTION altogether! That is not Lance being anyone's first choice.
But speaking of season 8...
Oh, gentle reader.
When I tell you what went down after Voltron officially concluded, and the people with insider information and sources could finally openly talk about what they knew...
"Shitstorm" doesn't even BEGIN to describe it.
Do you remember how the showrunners claimed that Shiro was always going to be their queer representation? Well, that was a lie. It's a well-known fact nowadays, but, in case you don't know: the VLD crew threw out the show's Bible (read: the show's outline) after season 2. So, they didn't know who Allura was going to end up with for the first few seasons. This is why there's scenes with romantic coding between her and Keith, Shiro, and Lance. Yes, Shiro was included there; Shiro was a possible option for Allura's endgame, which, unless they were originally going to have him be bisexual (which, why change that to gay once Shallura wasn't going to be a thing?), then they lied their ASSES off. There was a TON of arguing between LM, JDS and Tim Hedrick (the lead writer for the show) behind the scenes, regarding Allura's endgame. JDS pushed for Allurance, which won out. LM pushed for Kallura, and TH pushed for Klance and Shallura. This is also why Allura was aged down pretty early; so that she could get with Keith and/or Lance. (Source: @lancearchives and @breemeup on Twitter.)
Now, there is ONE thing not directly related to Klance as a ship that was revealed in this mass-release of information that I will add on. In the original Voltron series (the preboot), Keith Kogane was born to a Japanese father and a Chinese mother. However, the reboot CHANGED this, and WHITEWASHED him. But the idea that reboot Keith was Asian, like in the preboot (and, honestly, like he should have been in the reboot) became so popular in the fandom that the crew never said anything. This is the reason why, in all official materials, Keith's ethnicity is only ever listed as "Galra". (Source: @lancearchives and @lancestan on Twitter.)
Back onto Klance... Lance's line, "I think Keith is, like, the future," from the later seasons, was intentionally written TO BE BAIT for Klance shippers. (Source: @lancearchives on Twitter.)
Furthermore, the elevator scene in season 2 was originally written to have a LOT more gay tension. Namely, when Keith and Lance fell down the shoot, they were originally going to land in each other's laps. I would like to take this moment to remind you that this would happen while they were shirtless, also, since they were in their swim gear. (Source: @kciths and @lancearchive.)
In the DMs of their friend, a storyboard artist (whose name was redacted for obvious reasons) would vent that the higher-ups (read: JDS and LM) were "cowards who wouldn't make Lance bi", and said that Voltron wouldn't have any "real LGBT rep". (Source: @hughumry on Twitter.) Indeed, JDS and LM kept going over the heads of writing on the show, and overturning decisions. (I emphasize that because, since it was the LEAD WRITER who wanted Klance and Shallura endgame, this means that it was JDS and LM specifically who vetoed it.) As well, the show Bible that JDS and LM tossed out after season 2 detailed Voltron becoming much more of a buddy-cop show, with Keith and Lance being planned to be the co-leaders of Team Voltron. (Source: @breemeup on Twitter.)
Now, with those last couple of points, I imagine you're in disbelief! "But WHY??" you're wondering! "But WHY would JDS and LM go overturn choices by the writing team, like Klance being endgame? WHY would they throw away the show Bible with Keith and Lance as co-leaders? WHY would they make such stupid decisions?!"
The answer is honestly something that I used to joke about with my fellow fandomgoers. But to have it confirmed by people with inside sources... Well... That was a whole other thing entirely.
The reason that all of this was done was because LM and JDS didn't like Klance shippers and Lance fans. They found them annoying, and began to hate them to the extent that they not ONLY purposefully ruined Keith and Lance's dynamic to "punish" the shippers, but they ALSO purposefully ruined Lance's arc (which, again, was originally going to end with him being the co-leader of the team), out of nothing but spite and anger for the very people who supported their show. (Source: @breemeup and @stelllalights on Twitter.)
When I tell you that this is the most high-school bully bullshit I have ever heard...
It makes SENSE that all of this came spilling out the MOMENT the show was over, so nobody could be fired. There are only a few people mentioned here, but that's because we only have screenshots to go by now. People working on Voltron HATED it. JDS and LM made a LOT of enemies by how toxic they made the work environment. And those enemies spilled shit like CRAZY to people in DMs. (Source: @lancearchive on Twitter.)
So, in conclusion... Was Klance queerba-
You know what, nevermind. After I explained all of that to you, why would I even ask that question? The answer was "yes" as far back as the stuff with the YouTube videos and Netflix Tweets! Not EVEN considering that whole mess with them PURPOSEFULLY ruining parts of their show out of spite!!
Klance was not ONLY queerbait, but VERY malicious queerbait. It was queer representation that was overturned by showrunners going over head writers. It was queerbait that was, in the most literal sense of the word, done specifically out of nothing but spite and hatred for queer fandomgoers.
That is why the narrative that Klance shippers were just "mad that their ship wasn't canon, so they call it queerbait," needs to stop. What was done to Klance is easily one of the most egregious examples of, not ONLY queerbaiting, but ALSO unprofessional writing in general, in recent years. And what makes it worse is that, to this very day, THEY'RE STILL ON THIS SHIT.
This Instagram screenshot is from MAY OF 2024.
The truth is this: JDS and LM thought Klance shippers were annoying, so they changed their dynamic and overturned the head writer, so that they could treat the fandom as crazy for being surprised it wasn't canon, and for picking up on subtext that was factually there. Don't let the way that JDS and LM framed it be the way that this story goes down in history. Let it be known as the queerbaiting, disastrous garbagefire that those of us in the trenches at the time KNOW it to be.
As for what this means for any modern Klance shippers?
I leave you with one message: JDS and LM hated queer fandomgoers. They hated them so much that they ruined their own work, and the work of everyone else on the VLD crew. They wanted you to feel crazy for picking up on the place that the head writer was writing them to go. They wanted to discourage you, to punish you, and to make you feel bad. They wanted you to stop shipping Klance, and they wanted to hurt you.
Let them have ruined the show with THEIR names on it for nothing. Don't let them win.