History Main / CowardiceCallout

Compare YouMonster, which calls out the insulted character's heinousness rather than their lack of virtue or bravery. For other themed insults, see AdoptionDiss, YouAreFat, YourMom, BoringInsult, and StinkSnub. Contrast FearIsNormal.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBFG'': Sophie calls BFG a coward when he doesn't intervene to stop Fleshlumpeater from [[ChildEater eating a human child]] when they run into him at an English village at night and decides to flee instead. BFG explains that he was thinking about Sophie's safety first and that there is no way for him to stop Fleshlumpeater or the other Giants by himself. He's so much stronger that he would just knock BFG down and hit him before finishing what he was doing.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheBFG'': Sophie calls BFG a coward when he doesn't try to stop Fleshlumpeater from [[ChildEater eating a human child]] when they run into him at an English village at night and decides to flee instead. BFG explains that he was thinking about Sophie's safety first and that there is no way for him to stop Fleshlumpeater or the other Giants by himself. He's so much stronger that he would just knock BFG down and hit him before finishing what he was doing.

** In the manga version of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', both Maple and Link call Onox out for using Din as a human shield when he starts to lose the final fight.

** ''Film/DoctorStrange2016'': Mordo makes plain that he considers Strange’s deep reluctance to take the lives of Kaecillius’s zealots to be cowardice, and that his angsting over the one time he did kill a Zealot in self-defense only highlights that perceived spinelessness.

** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': In "[[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS03E07CivilDefense Civil Defense]]", Dukat quite hilariously gets called a coward in a pre-recorded message left by his former superior Legate Kell, which was meant to be triggered if Dukat ever attempted to abandon his post -- even though the station is no longer Cardassian-run, most of the message's content still fits the current situation which led to Dukat unwittingly triggering the message, and Dukat is rendered speechless afterwards.
*** When Dr Bashir realises that Kai Winn is not discouraging Vedak Bareil from refusing treatment that would prevent him from assisting her in peace negotiations because she wants him in reserve as a scapegoat if talks fall through, he calls her a coward afraid to stand alone.

* ''WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting'': Kitten's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to [[ArcVillain Pyotr]] is based around Pyotr being a DirtyCoward, from attacking [[WouldHurtAChild a child]] while the other vampires target the armed adult Hunters, to turning on his allies to [[MonstrousCannibalism diablerize them]] as soon as possible. It doesn't work, because Pyotr is unimpressed at [[FullyEmbracedFiend the idea he should feel human things like shame]].

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': Tanjiro screams a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech at Akaza: calling Akaza a coward for daring to run from him, and contrasting it against Rengoku's decision to stand and fight to the very end when protecting his charges, calling out demonkind in the same speech by implying that demons in general are cowards for relying on their powers, HealingFactor, and the cover of night when they have the advantage in order to terrorize humans; while the human demon slayers fighting them are entirely mortal, yet they brave through fighting against demons at night, when demonkind have all the odds in their favor.

Compare YouMonster, which calls out the insulted character's heinousness rather than their lack of virtue or bravery. For other themed insults, see AdoptionDiss, YouAreFat, YourMom, BoringInsult, and StinkSnub.

* ''Series/BangBangItsReevesAndMortimer'': Paul Barron, the owner of Barron's Nightclub, is prone to doing dodgy things for the sake of his club and [[NeverMyFault refusing to face up to it when those things backfire]], and the [[SiblingYinYang more level-headed]] Tony (who was brought up in Hong Kong and therefore combines BrutalHonesty and AsianRudeness in one package) always calls him out for "having no balls for the job". One of the most defining moments is when Paul, decides to have Creator/LesDennis replace Kinky John, the club's normal compere (a HotBlooded {{Cloudcuckoolander}} who talks and behaves like a parody of [[Film/TheGodfatherPart1 Vito Corleone]]), and instead of telling Kinky John himself, Paul [[GotVolunteered asks Tony to do it]] while he "checks on the Doritos to make sure they're not damp". Tony is none too happy about this:

** After Jesse and his friends escape into the Nether during the Wither Storm's rampage, Ivor blames them for the crisis because they stole the potion needed to stop Wither Storm from going out of control ([[NeverMyFault while completely ignoring the fact that he created the Wither Storm in the first place, swindled one of the materials from Petra, and the group had no reason to know that potion in question was meant as a contingency plan]]). Jesse has the option to call him out on cowardly running away when the Wither Storm goes out of control, and if he does, Ivor will not only admit it but state that his survival is all that matters.
** Jesse also has the option to call [[spoiler:Soren the Architect]] a coward after the latter [[spoiler:chooses to turn tail and run despite promising to help the heroes stop the Wither Storm]]. And this happens just after [[spoiler:it's revealed that the Soren is actually a fraud who only had the Order of the Stone take credit for killing the Ender Dragon when they never actually fought it]].

-->-- '''Android 16''' to '''Gohan''', ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', "[[Recap/DragonBallZAbridgedE60Part1 Cell-Out (Part 1: Mitosis)]]"

** In the adaptation of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', when Link finally confronts Zant, he calls out the evil sorcerer for relying on illusions to get away from the one person able to pose a threat to him.

* In the [[Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaAkiraHimekawa manga adaptation]] of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames'', when Onox starts to lose his last fight with Link, he uses Din as a human shield. Both Maple and Link himself call him out on it.

* ''Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd'': Elizabeth delivers an impassioned criticism of this type to Sao Feng, the Pirate Lord of Singapore, overlapping with the YouUsedToBeBetterSpeech, citing how the other Pirate Lords of the Brethren Court are uniting to wage war against the East India Trading Company, but Sao Feng sits and cowers in his bathhouse instead. Sao Feng is insulted by her accusations, but simultaneously [[YouGotSpunk impressed by her boldness]], so he doesn't retaliate.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}'': In "[[Recap/RugratsS6E10OppositesAttractTheArtMuseum Opposites Attract]]", Chuckie meets up with a boy named Freddie, who is cowardly like he is. Freddie manages to outdo Chuckie in having [[AbsurdPhobia absurd phobias]], such as being eaten by oatmeal, ants growing in size after getting wet, and mud people. However, what causes Chuckie to call Freddie out is when Freddie tells him about sand lizards, prompting Chuckie to say Freddie can't let himself stay afraid of ''everything''.

-->-- '''Android 16''' to '''Gohan''', ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'', [[Recap/DragonBallZAbridgedE60Part1 Episode 60 Part 1]]