This will be interesting to follow!
LGBT activists are pushing back against Zoolander 2 for what they are calling controversial and cartoonish representations of transgender people in the film, most notably the character played by Benedict Cumberbatch.
Photo: Penelope Cruz & Ben Go Blue Steel For Zoolander 2 Selfie!
And now, activists have begun an online petition — which now has more than 7,000 signatures — to boycott the film over the controversy!
Sarah Rose, the petition creator, said of the problematic issues regarding the Zoolander sequel:
“Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals. This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority. Like any rational person, I think there’s a place for discourse and humor in society, but the last thing the transgender community needs at this moment is another harmful, cartoonish portrayal of our lives.”
She continued in the petition, too, calling out producers for their lack of awareness in hiring the appropriate people to portray transgender characters in the film:
“If the producers and screenwriters of Zoolander wanted to provide social commentary on the presence of trans/androgyne individuals in the fashion industry, they could have approached models like Andreja Pejic to be in the film. By hiring a cis actor to play a non-binary individual in a clearly negative way, they film endorses harmful and dangerous perceptions of the queer community at large.”
The petition stems from the trailer, in which Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson‘s characters make light of Cumberbatch’s androgynous male model.
Related: Benedict Dealing With A Stalker At His London Home
Watch the scene in question within the trailer (below):
What do U think — does Rose have a point?! Is Zoolander 2 disrespectful to, as she puts it, “non-binary” individuals??
[Image via Paramount Pictures.]
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