Halle Berry withdraws from transgender role
After facing backlash online, actress Halle Berry has pulled out of a transgender role she was supposed to play in an upcoming film. Over the weekend, the Oscar-winning actress revealed she would “probably” play a transgender man in her next film.
“(The film is about) a character where the woman is a trans character, so she’s a woman that transitioned into a man. She’s a character in a project I love that I might be doing,” Berry said during an Instagram Live interview.
The news was met with a wave of criticism on social media, some slammed Berry for repeatedly using the wrong gender while talking about the character in the interview.
On Monday, Berry apologised and tweeted that she was no longer considering the role, reports hollywoodreporter.com.
“Over the weekend I had the opportunity to discuss my consideration of an upcoming role as a transgender man, and I’d like to apologise for those remarks. As a cisgender woman, I now understand that I should not have considered this role, and that the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories,” she wrote on Twitter.
“I am grateful for the guidance and critical conversation over the past few days and will continue to listen, educate and learn from this mistake. I vow to be an ally in using my voice to promote better representation on-screen, both in front of and behind the camera,” she added.
Berry’s decision to pull out was met with praise from GLAAD, with the organisation tweeting: “We are pleased that @halleberry listened to the concerns of transgender people and learned from them. Other powerful people should do the same. A good place to start is by watching @Disclosure_Doc to learn about trans representation in media.”
Many Hollywood stars have faced similar backlash because of not giving opportunities to transgenders. In 2018, Scarlett Johansson dropped out of “Rub & Tug”, the movie that would have seen her play a transgender man.
