Why Are Penny Proud's Friends So Fake?

The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder is an American animated television series created by Bruce W. Smith and Ralph Farquhar which premiered on Disney+ on February 23, 2022. It is a revival and soft reboot of The Proud Family, which originally aired on Disney Channel from 2001 to 2005.
In April 2022, Disney+ confirmed that the show's second season was in production, which premiered on Disney+ on February 1, 2023. The series has been received positively in critic reviews. The series made its linear premiere on January 7, 2023 on Disney Channel, and on Disney XD on January 8, 2023.

The series follows Penny Proud, a 14-year-old girl and her family, as they navigate their lives in the 2020s. Penny, and her parents Trudy and Oscar, face a myriad of challenges. Suga Mama returns, as does Michael, Dijonay, Zoey, and LaCienega. Two new kids, Maya and KG, raised by two dads, try to adapt to life in Smithville.

Maya Leibowitz-Jenkins is a recurring character in the revival series The Proud Family: Louder and Prouder. She is a 14-year-old activist who is "extremely mature for her age" and relentlessly marches to the beat of her own drum.
Much is unknown about Maya's past. She and her younger brother KG were adopted by two married men, Randall and Barry Leibowitz-Jenkins.

[JesseGolo]

Who is your least favorite of Penny's friends? And are there any other Proud Family topics you'd like to see me cover? I have one more idea.

[nationalinstituteofcheese]

Remember y’all: Her own bullies showed up to her birthday party and sang for her when her own friends didn’t bother to show up

[OpticalSorcerer]

The issue isn't that Penny has bad friends; it's that it's lampshaded. Most of them show toxic behavior 24/7 and are ocassionally called out for it, but it's an episode thing, not a longstanding thing. It's like Penny's just friends with them just because.

[l.n.]

Penny's fake friends are plot devices more than genuine friends.

The problem with their friend group is demonstrated best in the colorism episode. They all gang up on Zoey. They blame Zoey for something that isn't her fault. They basically imply that Zoey is unattractive and doesn't appeal to any boys. And even Penny, the best of the group, similarly turns on Zoey cuz she's jealous that a boy didn't pick her (even though she already has a boyfriend). The episode forces Zoey to apologize when she did nothing wrong. This episode was a textbook definition of why people say this friend group is toxic.

[barbararab]

Isnt it weird that in a show that fights against racism, they make the black characters (the main ones at least) the worst people imaginable while the white character is usually just bullied by the others?

[Mkinda]

It’s crazy how the Gross Sisters, her supposed to be bullied, treats her better than her supposed to be “friends”

[reicho]

I know that friendships aren’t perfect, but THIS amount of toxicity for each other? That’s ALSO not normal.😅

[DuneStone]

I think you’ve nailed the problem. They want the girls to be in Penny’s main friend group, but also be the ones to create much of the conflict. Now I’m imagining a version of the show in which Zoe is Penny’s singular best friend, and Dijonay and LaCienega are just some other girls from school. They could play the same role in most episodes and it would work just fine. The show already has a built-in excuse for Penny and LaCienega to interact a lot despite not liking each other: they live across the street and their parents are all friends. But for some reason, the show wants LaCienega to be both the mean girl and one of Penny’s best friends, which leads the viewer to repeatedly ask “Why do these kids keep choosing to hang out together?”

[Sjono]

The Gross sisters are less toxic with the rest of the cast than Penny’s friends

[FarahA]

Even in the original show, Penny’s friends were toxic. I know the writers were trying to show that’s what most middle school friendships are like. However, it would have been better if the show (and the reboot) wasn’t promoting or glorifying toxic friendships. They should have had Penny learn what friendship is a la My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic style, by deciding to befriend people who may not be popular but are really kind (like that nerdy boy, the Chang Triplets, that Muslim girl whom she wrapped houses with, etc.).

[catherga]

I think it’s her parent’s fault. Penny was raised to be a people pleaser, and she seeks out people (like Oscar) who are more toxic and troublesome than they are helpful. That’s why she works so hard to make everyone happy, she has a lifetime of experience trying to meet her parents unrealistic expectations and navigating through their drama.

[reyfan]

Maya is a good idea for a character, but she’s been kind of annoying. She judges Penny right off the bat, and likes to stir the pot. In that episode about colorism she gets the ball rolling saying Noah only likes white girls. Which I never understood why the girls hated Zoey and said she ‘doesn’t get it’. What is it she didn’t get? Why is she at fault for a boy asking her out?

I couldn’t get what message they were trying to do. It looked like it was a ‘don’t let a boy get between friends’ message comparing to suga mama. But they tried to make it sound more about skin color.

[chanela.]

Maya doesn’t like Penny and she thinks she’s shallow but she’s literally best friends with Lacienaga…like make it make sense🤣😭

[firecrakerj]

The only real friends Penny had were Sticky, Micheal, MAYBE Zoey and The Gross Sisters, the ladder of whom being a group of bullies.

[keshiaanders]

Penny's "friends" & Oscar were the reasons why I'm not a fan of this reboot nor the original.

[missebone]

Dijonnay is the fakest out of all of them

[StarWolfDragon]

And what makes it even worse... Her parents are just as toxic to her than her friends are. And yes, that includes Trudy, she's just as awful and controlling as Oscar is, but in her own way. I hope they get fully called out for their abuse and terrible parenting (that they try to mask with their wholesome teachings and tender family moments)...
Let's never forget episodes like "Strike!", "Grandma's Hands", "BeBe", and the HIGHLY hated "Twins to Tweens"...

[CartoonEric]

With friends like them, Penny doesn't need enemies.

[tankian]

tbh this is why i could never commit fully to the show, evry episode would always bum me out seeing how badly everyone treated each other.

[czms]

I'm glad people are calling out her "friends" now