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Michelle Rodriguez Defends Problematic Trans Role in Tomboy Movie, Misgenders Caitlyn Jenner
GLAAD and other groups have panned the fim its 'sensationalistic' depiction of gender-confirmation surgeries.
Last week LGBT activist groups and GLAAD came out against the upcoming Michelle Rodriguez starrer Tomboy: A Revenger’s Tale as soon as plot details surfaced that she would play a transgender assassin bent on revenge on an evil surgeon (Sigourney Weaver) who changed her from a man to a woman against her will. Now the film’s out bisexual star Rodriguez has weighed in on the controversy with some pretty tone-deaf remarks, including misgendering Caitlyn Jenner.
Rodriguez sloughed off questions from a TMZ reporter who asked her about LGBT groups’ issues with the film by essentially saying that all representation leads to better awareness.
“Anything that’s freaking promoting it,” Rodriguez said. “No press is bad press, baby.”
Upon learning of the plot, GLAAD called the film, from director Walter Hill, “disappointing” for its “sensationalistic” depiction of gender-confirmation surgeries, according to The Advocate.
“We haven't read the script, but it's disappointing to see filmmakers turning what is a lifesaving medical procedure for transgender people into a sensationalistic plot device,” Nick Adams, GLAAD's director of programs for transgender media, said in a statement.
Adams went on to say, “We are at a crucial moment in the public's understanding of transgender issues, and stories like these have the potential to undermine the progress we've worked so hard to achieve.”
Still, Rodriguez held her line about how even bad representation is better than none.
“I remember a day when white people were playing black people,” she said. “It’s just about the evolution.”
It would seem that Rodriguez could do with a bit more evolving herself, because she ends the exchange by saying, “Thank Kris Jenner for becoming who he became.”
Wrong name. Misgendering. Oy.
Watch the video below:
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP, Executive Producer of Entertainment for the Advocate Channel. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
