Suga Momma said when Penny was a pop star. The fake friends they hired for her were "more real than your real friends."

To this day I still ask myself, why does LaCienega even hang out with them if she dislikes Penny so much, like get your *OWN* group of awful friends girl!

You know Louder and Prouder is a faithful revival when Penny's friends are just as shady and fake as they were in the original.

For a show that often tries to empower young girls, they constantly portray them back stabbing each other and just being plain nasty at times

Lacianiga shouldn't really count they been enemies since the beginning. They only tolerate each other for the friend group.

After the Disney Princess episode of Louder and Prouder how the whole group completely ostracized Zoey because a celebrity chose her over them because she was "white" really begs the question how are any of them friends to begin with?

Maya doesn’t like Penny cause she thinks she’s superficial but she’s friends with Lacienaga…like what?!!

I honestly hate Maya, I don’t dislike her to same extent as Djionne or Lacienega, she’s the type of person I hate the most: a hypocrite. She doesn’t want to become friends with her because she think she’s “fake and superficial” yet she hangs out with Lacienega, who IS fake and superficial. Like are they trying to make us hate her?!

It sucks that one of the few black shows on Disney at that time was full of such fake friends. I am so glad we had Raven and her friends to show us what real friendship was like

If I were Penny, I would've cut off any ties with both LaCienega and Dijonay. Especially Dijonay, and find myself some new true friends.

Lacienega is absolutely going to be a homewrecker.😩

I really do not see why does Penny hang around these people that are her so-called friends, considering when trouble strikes they’re always the first to abandon her in our time of need. Do these writers not understand the definition of friendship? Now granted, Zoey is loyal out of all of them.

Sticky was Pennys best friend of the group. He back her 9 times out of 10 even went against the group twice.

I have a theory. In a lot of these types of shows about high schoolers/middle schoolers there's usually a popular clique that the main characters deal with, but we don't really get that in Proud family. I think that Penny might be the most popular girl in her school. She has a hand in a lot of activities and holds quite a bit of sway in school. She wants to be cool, but by her own terms, not to impress anyone. It would explain her friends. They want to be cool, popular kids by association. That's why they're so quick to ditch her anytime she's seen being uncool. It would certainly explain why LaCienega is always hanging around. Trying to gain popularity by joining the cool clique until you're able to oust the queen bee is mean girl 101, and When Maya pegs her as one of 'those types' of girls, she wasn't wrong. She was just wrong about Penny being a mean, superficial popular girl.

The latest season is so awful. That episode where they destroy Zoey’s confidence because of their jealousy is completely awful and outrageous. How it got green lit is beyond me. Zoey deserves way better.

Why'd they even introduce Maya to the group? As if Dijonay, LaCienega, and Zoey's follower-self were already toxic enough.

Zoey is still the follower she always was. Hopefully next season she finally grows a spine.

Don’t forget during the recent colorism episode . When the new teen celebrity transfer student asked Zoe to the dance they immediately assumed it must be cause she was white and nothing else. They were mad at her and insulted her because in their group she’s the ugly duckling and there’s no way a dude would pick her and pass them up. It couldn’t possibly just be that the celebrity dude stated he wanted a normal life and the moment he got into the school everyone in the group but zoe was all up over him. A clear reason he might like her .And yeah it did come out that he only supposedly liked her because she was white but they never showed anything.

So do the writers legitimately think that there’s nothing wrong with the way Penny’s friend group treats each other? People have been complaining about the toxicity since the original series, and they had 17 years to learn from their mistakes. Either the writers didn’t know/understand the criticism or they just didn’t care. 😓

The plot line where LaCienega tries to steal Penny’s boyfriend felt too messed up even for her to me

Tbh dijonay actually got better in this continuity compared to the original. She actually stood up for penny and called out laci, and voted to keep penny in the dance group when everyone else including Zoey voted her out. Maya apologized she's gotten better and a actual friend too. Maya became a friend later on but wasn't at the start

If they are going to keep her toxic friends the least they could do is really call them out on it. Dijonay and Lacieniga really need to have some character growth. Maya does too, but she’s new so it’s not as overdue.

LaCienega was a character that always rattled Latinos that I talked to. For a Latina she acts way more like a kid who wants to be black instead of their own heritage. Heck Sunset and Felix don’t even seem to notice. My mom once said, if LaCienega was her daughter she would’ve knocked some sense into her.

"Let's hope they get character development in season two" aged like MILK IN THE SUN

Micheal and Sticky were really her only real friends, it's really sad that basically everyone in her "friend's group" always leave her when she needs it and stab her in the back whenever they have the chance :( Our girl needs friends who actually love and care about her

Penny’s only good friends are Michael, Zoey, & KG (to an extent, they don’t have much screen time as friends), & Kareem is a good bf to her

5:05 THIS! I really don’t like how they handled Maya. Since she’s pretty much Sticky’s replacement, she has so much potential to be more than just another Dijonay/Lacienaga. I would’ve love to see her as one of Penny’s decent friend along with Zoey. Have her point out how awful Penny’s friends are, yes even Zoey had her moments. Although idk if it’ll be any good to have a character that is there to make the show more self aware. I like Maya’s addition to the group, but I also think the writers wanted a Huey Freeman type character but without any of his charms

Not just fake friends but pure Toxicity

The thing that truly bugged me about the Proud family were Penny's friends. I mean La Cienega was awful, but at least she was honest. Zoe is weakminded but she's just a people pleaser. The true toxic friend was Dijonay who always left Penny hanging.

Micheal is the only good friend. When the celebrity asked Zoey to the dance he smiled and was happy for her while the other girls looked shocked and confused.

I kind of like her friends being fake. It's relateable for kids who are stuck with terrible friends because there is no one else. The problem is more that penny is made out to be in the wrong when she shouldn't be

Genuinely the closest thing Penny has to a real friend in this group is Michael (and sometimes Zoe when she decides she's not gonna be a follower), and even HE'S bailed on her both in the original series and this one. He's nowhere near as bad as the others, though, thankfully.

I feel like the Proud Family is an example of how some friend groups are only friends because school is so isolated. While my friend group never backstabbed each other, it became clear that we were only friends due to being stuck in school together. Once we graduated, the friend group didn't last at all. Going out into the wider world exposed us to a wider variety of people where we met people we could build stronger friendships with. I have contact with only one member of my old school friend group, and even then it's just the fact that we like each other's posts on FB once in a while.

Not only was Zoey the only white kid in the whole show she was also Penny's only true friend and the only one of her friend group who was a good person.

I do NOT like the new girl Maya, and the show insist they are friends. If you let the bully stay, you let the bully win, that's whay I am getting. And to make it worst, everyone had pointed out out Zoey in a bully spot.

Who in the writing team seriously went "You know what this reboot needs? A sidekick for LaCienega that's equally awful"

I mean to be fair the name LaCienega refers to swamps and wet lands in Spanish and LaBrea shares the name with the tar pits in Los Angeles So the fact they're both messy really shouldn't be a surprise to anyone

I don’t know about you but I hated DiJonay more than LaCienega considering how DiJonay always throws others under the Bus including Penny in the original series and her actions in the original and in _Louder and Prouder_ don’t justify here especially when DiJonay let the "cat out of the bag" through Social Media on Maya and her brother having two dads resulting in them being bullied and the next day and hasn’t apologized to them at the end of the episode. As Sugar Mama said to Penny in the original series, _"You should've ditched that DiJonay long ago!!"_

You could make an argument about everyone having a crappy friend group in middle school, so that’s what this represents. Like, they’re not great, but they share common interests with you, and as a middle school kid, beggars can’t be choosers.

Turning Red shows middle school girls in a tight friendship without the story being corny. The life of a middle school girl can have plenty of drama for other reasons than her own friends constantly being two-faced.

Penny’s true friends are Sticky and Michael

The problem is they never address it, it's not a good example to audiences. If they want to keep the friendship they need to have plenty of episodes dedicated to their character development and have some just cut out for good

The only difference between LaCienega and Dejonay is that LaCienega and Penny are, at bes,t frienemies where as Dejonay would've probably got with Kareem and try to gaslight Penny where LaCienega would be upfront about it. I know that doesnt make LaCienega any better, but with what we see from the OG show and the reboot we can't really call them friends.

1:34 LaCienega was never penny’s friend which both of them confirmed. She only tolerated her like penny does her due to hanging with Dijonay, Micheal, Maya, and Zoey 3:10 Dijonay Is The Worst Of Penny’s Friends Because She Has Done Too Much And Never Really See Her Wrong. 4:10 Maya Was Stated To Be Enemies With Penny Throughout S1 But They Eventually Become Friends.

Michael is her only true friend, who has always been very honest with her.

Even though this is a kids show, I actually respect why they choose to make this type of friend group the way they are. I’m hoping what they were trying to show was that over time, these young girls are growing, due to peer pressure and stress of growing up too quickly, shows where their mindset is at. Penny who is usually Considered the level headed character ends up to teach us that not everyone will stand up for what is right, but focuses to stand up for what is right even if it may be the unpopular opinion. :) Even penny herself isn’t perfect but teaches us a good lesson in the end for each episode.

Michael is Penny’s only ‘real’ friend. Maya has done better this season in comparison to the first though.

Micheal is the only good friend she got

LaCienaga was never her friend tbh, she only hang out because Dijonay and even Zoey were there. She was always upfront about her feelings for Penny.

Zoey is the best of the girl friends, which is a low bar 🤣

Penny could always expect Lacienega to pull some bullshit im not sure why she hasn’t wised up on Dijonay yet. I remember one episode she did when Dijonay dumped babysitting duties on Penny knowing that she had enough on her plate already with her own 2 siblings just to go to a concert with fake tickets and Penny burned her ass for that but for as many times Dijonay has taken Penny for granted I don’t get how she can even consider her a friend much less a best friend.

Every episode I say the same thing: "Why is she hanging out with these people?"

LaCienega and Maya. LaCienega for everything in the original series, and in this series for always trying to steal her boyfriend. I kinda thought that after the episode where she celebrates her quinceanera she would improve her character but she doesn’t and I remember feeling mad about it. Maya didn’t like Penny at first but she almost Penny in trouble after Penny tried to be nice, Penny also tried to get her friend Dijonay not to out her parents, and later was there for her and KG. Meanwhile again tried to get Penny in trouble in the pilot and Maya ruined Penny’s career as an influencer, no one liked Penny’s behavior so Penny had to be taken down a peg but Maya compared Penny to a black racist who hates black people from the boondocks (I REALLY hated her for that) and blamed Penny for her father making deals with the Wizard, and the entire world turns on Penny a teenager. Maya at least tries to be straight with Penny when she was kicked out of her girl group so she gets some points there. Then again she’s friends with LaCienega and doesn’t try to get her to calm down when she mean. So she looses points there. For all bad Dijonay did in this series she at least was a better friend to Penny. While outing people is always wrong and not trying to help Maya and KG was bad or apologize to them or their parents. I actually felt sorry for her in her other bad moment, outing her teacher as homeless, especially when we learn why Dijonay told the principal, she wanted lunch for her and her siblings and for their lunch debt to be paid off. She also stood up for Penny in a another episode. I like how they improved Diionay while also not changing her too much. I actually like her now, most of the time. Zoey was also a good friend to Penny as was Michael, KG and her boyfriend. Penny has four good friends and a boyfriend

My name is actually Penny, so growing up I loved this show. I haven’t watched the new series yet but I’m disappointed but not surprised to find out her friends are still two faced.

I would have loved a reboot where they broke off being together and Penny discovered herself on her own till she made new friends!

Sugar Mama said it best in just about every episode that involves Penny's friends that her friends pretty much suck.

In future episodes, Penny should realize what flakes her 'friends' really are and dump their asses in their worst, possible moments!

If I were Penny I would dump those fake friends and transfer to a new school. I remember my mom not liking the Proud Family when I was a kid. Now that I'm an adult I can see why my mom didn't like the Proud Family. 😳😬

And then there's Zoey who's a pushover but is still loyal to the group. And they ALL (including Penny) treat her like crap.

I remember The Proud Family as being one of my favorite shows, so when I heard they did a reboot, I decided to re-watch the show. I was honestly surprised I never noticed how terrible the friend group was!! I hoped that the reboot showed their growth, but nope, they are all the same terrible friends as before. Kind of sad really.

Sticky was the only good friend until he was written off

It bothers me that Penny *STILL* doesn't get it!

Zoe was oddly barely toxic in both shows though.

At least Michael was a true friend to Penny

The problem with cartoon shows is that the characters tend to be one dimensional and neither improve or disimprove because their is no overall story arc. For example, if this was a live-action teen drama, Lacienaga could have started out as being rude and snobby to Penny but when Penny eventually made it her mission to see why that is, it could ahve revealed that Lacienaga is insecure and jealous of Penny and her close family. The two could have become friends or at the very least associates. Instead Disney insists on implying that Penny should keep toxic people like Dijonay and Lacienaga in her life because 'that's what friendship is all about'.

(Penny Proud reacts to the video.) Penny: Pfft, some friends they are.

To be honest, I think Sticky, Maya, And KG were the only real friends that Penny had

I like to compare this show and its reboot to Miraculous Ladybug. For a show that is supposedly aimed at empowering teenage girls they sure do seem to hate them instead. Always pitting them against each other, always making them bullies, always making them fight over boys, always making them catty, mean, vindictive, spiteful, and jealous.

I was honestly expecting this sequel series to address this as a way to show penny is growing up. Either she starts to realise they don't care and make friends with the other kids to understand them better (like the gross sisters), or another direction is her friends maturing themselves and becoming better people as the show goes on. Or maybe both? Maybe I was blind on the original series but this new series put me off it in those first few episodes. It felt like it wasn't a series of the girls learning and growing as people but just a bully session for penny and a good example of bad friends. Every episode I expect penny to just leave them and the rest of the episode would be the girls struggling to come to terms with their actions; while penny is having a good time with her family.

I never thought of LaCienega as a 'friend'. More of like a bully who sometimes gaslights you into thinking your friends with them sometimes to manipulate you. Does she ever do anything positive towards Penny? Or is she always doing what she's doing at 2:25 - trying to undermine her out of jealousy? That's not friendship. Idk if there's positive examples of her behavior towards Penny I just don't remember? It's been a while since I've seen it and I haven't watched any of the new stuff yet. Tbh the main reason I didn't like the show when I was a kid was bc watching bullying scenes and stuff like this stress me out. I don't understand what's supposed to be entertaining for a child about going home from school, then unwinding by reliving the awfulness they JUST experienced at school. I wanted to escape as a kid. I didn't like shows with school settings or bullies.

I am going to make fanfiction about this show for the Summer. I will be getting inspiration from House of Payne, My Little Pony, and other black family-friendly comedies about real family and friend relations and how problems can be solved and everyone is evolving. I am thinking of making two different versions. One where Penny leaves her friend group for a different one or one where the toxic friends become non-toxic.

6:53 Man I don't blame Labrea, if someone stole my toy from me as a toddler I'd be starting my own villian arc.

I feel like zoey is the only one who actually cares about penny but gets pushed around by everyone else

Maya is so judgmental yet so quick to hang out with the rich spoiled princess

I've actually had experience with a toxic friend. There's was this girl at my school that I met pretty much last second before summer, and going into my freshman year, we conveniently had a class together. I forgot her name, so conversations were awkward, but I eventually learned it. She was a good friend at first, but things started to change real quick. She was friends with the most hated girl in the school (no joke, NOBODY liked her), which to me was kind of a red flag. This girl was hated because she lied about everything, she made up stories about terrible things happening to her, and etc. She couldn't be trusted. But I didn't think much of it at the time. But then she started being a jerk to me. Not calling me names or spreading rumors or anything, but she manipulated me, used me, lied to me, all kinds of stuff. But I let it all slide. I don't know what I was thinking, but eventually I got sick of her treating me like that and just stopped talking to her, because I was afraid to say, "I don't want to be your friend anymore". I asked my teacher to move me so she wouldn't bother me. She still acted like we were friends, though, and apparently didn't get the message. Over time, though, she slowly stopped talking to me. If you ever have a friend who's terrible to you, then get away from them as much as possible. Don't interact with them, and let them know you don't want to be friends with them. Having a friendship like that is not healthy, and it really messes with you.

Penny deserves to get REAL FRIENDS I don’t get why is Disney ain’t let the writers to get a change in the first place!😑😑😑

Honestly Penny needs to ditch the majority of them especially Lacienga and Dijonay, definition of toxic. How many times do they need to prove to Penny how awful they are. In the newest season of the revival, Dijonay jokes that she never remembers hers and Penny's friendship anniversary. LIKE WHY?! The list can go on and on about Lacienga, I swear she's givin' us Latinas a bad name!

When I first watched this show as a kid… i had friends like these. I left them after a while and after some heartbreak. (Some were good tho and stuck around) But I guess at the time I had no one else and the toxicity was all I knew. Glad I know better now :) but.. definitely hope penny gets some new friends too :c

I still don’t know how Penny is friends with Lacienaga and Dijonay. I dislike Maya because she makes everything about skin color and politics. Honestly, Penny should have kicked them to the curb when they started trashing Zoey behind her back.

Dijonay and Lacieniga are the just the worst.

Back when I was young and watched Proud Family's first run, Penny's friends always rubbed me the wrong way with the how they'd always find an excuse to bail on her when she needed most, specially Dijonay, but I never had anyone to speak about it (Disney Channel wasn't at all that common in TVs around here). And now, years later, I found that I'm not alone in my perception of them and I'm so, so glad I wasn't just "seeing things".

And people wonder why I still refuse to watch Proud Family Louder and Prouder? I mean I loved the original show when I was in middle school, but even back then I felt there was a lot they could improve on, and sadly at times the original show gets worse the more I watch it.

I think it's good to show toxic friendships but part of growing up is realizing who is actually gonna have your back when you need them. I think since Louder and Prouder is showing Penny grow up they also need to start distancing her from her old toxic friend group.

Dijonay looks like a rotten Hershey kiss.

Maybe the season finale could be Penny learning what horrible friends they are and leaving them.

Penny needs new friends, I always thought her friends were whack, especially Dijonay , she's not even a real friend, I don't even know why LaCienaga even hang with them , just fake !!

Not too surprised this show turned out as it has, many shows these days get messed up do the petulant attitude & logic used to excuse people's actions or how they live. I do hope this show finally touches on the fact a bad friend isn't a friend, at the very least. Penny has her faults, but she hangs out with several people who straight up don't care about their actions unless it actually may effect them. It's not healthy & can cause some real pain and trust issues later on for a person, making it harder to let anyone new in their life who will treat them like a person instead of a convenience.

Season 2 and they still shady, but it’s important to understand why. It’s because the Proud Family has always been about teaching lessons. Lessons about friendship, society, etc. If the friend group was better there wouldn’t be any lesson to learn. Penny for instance is a pretty good person, but that fact most of her friends are trash, shows one of Penny’s flaws which is that she caves to peer pressure a lot. This allows Penny to learn a moral by the end of the episode. This formula happens often and is necessary for the show to work. Plus it’s kind of real in a way, especially in middle/high school. Kids are selfish.

Even my school bullies weren’t as cruel as Penny’s “friends”.

This is a good message, like teens go through fake friends in reality but many family shows rarely show that, I'm glad they show something that can hit home for kids and older people making them aware of how some friends isn't good supporters.

Why are the show writers allergic to writing good friends? Literally only the boyfriend is a breath of fresh air

Also I think Maya could be on the spectrum like Bebe

Eh I feel like this is a real portrayal of how most people are in the world. It Becomes harder and harder to really have good friends that stay good throughout the relationship

1) LaCienega literally just hates Penny. I never seen a episode of 'The Proud Family' or the reboot where she show signs of being a true friend. 2) Dijonay is Penny so-called best friend but this is a one-sided relationship Penny puts her heart and soul in the friendship but there's numerous of times Dijonay abandoned Penny for ridiculous reasons. In the reboot it is stated that Penny knows her since they were babies Penny literally has a friendversary for Dijonay every year and every year Dijonay always forgets to give Penny a gift. 3) Michael throws a lot of shaded at Penny but it's not because he hates her it's just playful fun. Kind of like a brother-sister dynamic. 4) Maya doesn't really hate Penny she just hates certain actions that she does because Maya is a strong black activist she thinks Penny should do more for her black culture which I can fully understand. 5) Zoey is one of the most sweetest character in Penny friend group and is the only one that shows characteristics of being a true friend. But after saying all of this I feel like the show is trying to give examples of different friends in a friend group because I think we can all agree that at least one person in Penny's friend group we had as a friend.

You'd think that of all the flaws from the original Proud Family cartoon the creators of Louder and Prouder would've taken care of, it'd be Penny's friendship dynamic, more specifically, with LaCienega and Dijonay. But nope, they chose to carry that relationship over in the reboot and still ahve them be shady for some reason.

I think the writers wrote themselves into a hole by aging up the characters. They wanted to age them up to show the time gap between the og show and the new one and reflect the modern world, but they didnt consider how that would affect the dynamics of the friend group. Middle school characters can be shown making tons of mistakes with their friends for the audience to learn lessons and still be forgiven because the audience understands that middle schoolers are just immature kids. Granted high schoolers are not adults, but high school is where teens are expected to start improving themselves and start becoming mature adults. Problem is none of these characters have changed at all from the og show, and now they dont have the excuse of being in middle school to make it all go away. The colorism episode might have worked in the og series because the kids excluding zoey can be understood as the immature behavior of kids trying to understand and cope with an unfair world. But the new show goes out of its way to show that when it comes to social issues these kids are extremely mature. Which makes it all the more worse when they act out in a way that could leave lasting emotional scars on their friend

I literally had to take a break from watching this bc most of the episodes centered around her friends being so fake.

Penny can’t get a break!!! This girl needs better friends. I watched a-little bit of the old show and they treated her like dirt! She deserves better friends, I haven’t watched the new show yet but when I heard they were bringing in characters from a family with two dads maybe maya would’ve been more supportive of penny or something like that, but NOPE our girl can’t have nice things. I feel bad for her.

It's such a bittersweet thing when it comes to the Proud Family. On one hand i miss watching this on disney channel like the good ol days bc some episodes are fun. But looking into it even more seeing how Penny was treated feels awful to watch. For a network that writes so many teen series it's surprising they couldn't do this right

I could never enjoy watching this show. I hated how Penny's friends always treated her, and they never portrayed it like a bad thing.