Diana’s Little Corner in the Nutmeg State: She Saw The Light!

Friday, July 13, 2018

She Saw The Light!

When Scarlett Johansson was picked to play a trans man, the community protested and she heard our cry,

Scarlett Johansson drops out of trans role after backlash
The actor has exited the fact-based drama Rub & Tug after the casting angered trans actors and activists
The Guardian
Benjamin Lee
13 July 2018

Scarlett Johansson has dropped out of her role in fact-based drama Rub & Tug after backlash from the trans community.

The actor was set to play the role of crime kingpin Dante “Tex” Gill, who was born Lois Jean Gill but identified as a man. He used his massage parlors as a front for prostitution.

“In light of recent ethical questions raised surrounding my casting as Dante Tex Gill, I have decided to respectfully withdraw my participation in the project,” Johansson said in a statement to Out magazine. “Our cultural understanding of transgender people continues to advance, and I’ve learned a lot from the community since making my first statement about my casting and realize it was insensitive.”

Since news of the project was announced, with her Ghost in the Shell director Rupert Sanders attached, backlash has followed from trans actors and activists.

Our voices are being heard!

Now will the studios listen?

1 comment:

The Gal Herself7/14/18, 10:48 AM
This is such a complicated issue. I have a friend, a gay AIDS activist, who was very against Tom Hanks being cast in Philadelphia back in the day. My friend believed that an out actor would have been a far better choice for the community. He's since changed his mind. Philadelphia was a hit in no small measure because of Hanks' popularity, and since he is such a familiar screen presence, he helped humanize AIDS to the general public.

Of course, that was 25 years ago and we have evolved. Being trans is not the same as having AIDS. Scarlett Johannsen is no Tom Hanks (I know I cannot stand her). So maybe there is no equivalency here at all.
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