‘The OA’ Fan Who’s on a 9-Day Hunger Strike

In the name of her beloved canceled program, The OA, 35-year-old Emperial Young is on a hunger strike in hopes of convincing Netflix to bring the original series back. Going on day nine, Young has been holding a sign outside of the entertainment streaming company’s new 13-story building on Sunset Boulevard. It reads, “Save The OA” with her hunger strike count beneath it. 

Shockingly, Young’s protest is only one of many. According to The Los Angeles Times, fans came together to crowdfund a Times Square billboard in an attempt to save their cherished series. The OA, which ran for only two seasons, follows the story of Prairie Johsnon, a young blind girl who mysteriously went missing and returns with her vision back. Season two, apparently, left fans on an extreme cliffhanger. 

According to The L.A Times, Young came to the west coast in 2007 to work in the entertainment industry. She had started as a transcriber and worked her way up to a story producer for eight seasons on the reality television show Big Brother. “It is an absurd overreaction to protest with a hunger strike over the cancellation of a television show,” she admitted to The L.A Times. “And I acknowledge that, but it’s because my protest for The OA is really a culmination of multiple factors.”

Young stands by the fact that The OA truly helped people in multiple ways, mainly “marginalized viewers.” She explained that “it imagines a world in which people can confront trauma and emerge a stronger version of themselves.” 

Young stated, “I think people underestimate how much representation in media can matter to somebody who feels powerless. If you see that representation, you start to feel like maybe you do have power.” Young admitted that she is unsure if she will be able to sway the opinion of a large corporation like Netflix, but is willing to try because “what do you have to lose?”