Scarlett Johansson Bows Out of Transgender Role
by EG
Scarlett Johansson acknowledged the controversy over her casting as a transgender man in an upcoming movie and decided to pull out of the project. Johansson's first reaction to the backlash was defiance, but she later apparently decided it was in her best interest to step away from the role. Read on for details.
There's not always a lot of distance between celebration and relief.
Less than 24 hours after FX announced a second season of the transgender-centric TV series Pose — the groundbreaking show created by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Steven Canals that features the largest recurring cast of LGBTQ characters ever for a scripted series — Scarlett Johansson announced that she was exiting Rub & Tug, a film in which she was set to star as Dante Tex Gill, a transgender man.
The A-list actress issued a statement to Out.com, offering that she had "decided to respectfully withdraw my participation in the project" following ethical concerns about her participation as a cisgender actress. "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."
At the time Johansson's casting news broke Friday, close to a dozen transgender actors, filmmakers, artists and activists were in The Hollywood Reporter's Los Angeles office for a discussion about representation in the entertainment industry. All who were interviewed applauded her decision to step aside from the project ("You are awesome!" said Buck Angel) and many expressed relief that the public outcry on behalf of the trans community had been heard and acted upon.
"Scarlett deciding to pull out was a good example of listening to the community and that was the right thing to do," said Rhys Ernst, an Emmy nominated producer and director known for his work on Transparent, This Is Me and the upcoming feature Adam.
Get the rest of the story at The Hollywood Reporter.
Do you think Scarlett did the right thing? Speak up in the comments below.