Scarlett Johansson plays the role of a transgender man in her movie Rub & Tug. This has caused an outrage among people and people are objecting a cisgender playing the role of a Trans man.
Earlier this week, it was announced that Johansson will be a part of Rub & Tug which is about a prostitution ring leader. The leader, Dante “Tex” Gill was born as Lois Jean Gill but was later identified as man. Transgender actor and advocates have criticized this decision since the announcement has been made.
Scarlett further outraged the critics by giving a statement to the website Bustle. The information was given by her representative and it said criticism “can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman’s reps for comment.”
The three above mentioned actors have won a lot of appreciation for playing trans roles. Tambor won two Emmys for his performance on “Transparent”. He left the show last year after he was blamed for sexual misconduct by two transgender women: actress Trace Lysette and his former personal assistant, Van Barnes.
Jared Leto won an Oscar for his performance in “Dallas Buyers Club.” Felicity Huffman was nominated for an Oscar for his film “Transamerica.”
Lysette wrote on Twitter:
Oh word?? So you can continue to play us but we can’t play y’all? Hollywood is so fucked… I wouldn’t be as upset if I was getting in the same rooms as Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett for cis roles, but we know that’s not the case. A mess. https://t.co/s8gBlBI1Sw
— Trace Lysette (@tracelysette) July 4, 2018
And not only do you play us and steal our narrative and our opportunity but you pat yourselves on the back with trophies and accolades for mimicking what we have lived… so twisted. I’m so done…
— Trace Lysette (@tracelysette) July 4, 2018
People on twitter have called out Johansson for “blindly” accepting the role.
Scarlett Johansson’s next roles:
• Selena Quintanilla Perez
• black drag queen throwing the first brick at stonewall
• Kim Jong-Un
• all the roles in black panther 2
• Malala
• mysterious Japanese child on scene 3
• Laverne Cox— luisa 🇧🇷🇨🇺 (@666bitchcraft) July 4, 2018
scarlett johansson selecting her next acting role pic.twitter.com/wT0hY3seYs
— COL•IN (@colinshram) July 4, 2018
BREAKING: ‘AVENGERS’ star, Scarlett Johansson is in-talks to play Mahatma Gandhi in an upcoming biopic.
The actress’ longtime friend, Woody Allen, is set to write and direct the film. pic.twitter.com/qmHld3bXlg
— Le Cinéphiles (@LeCinephiles) July 4, 2018
*Casting for a black gay trans man*
Scarlett Johansson: pic.twitter.com/J4HsUKy2iB
— Brazzy (@boybrazzy) July 4, 2018
I do not think Scarlett Johansson is an evil person or has ill-intent, but I do feel that if she doesn’t start hiring some career consultants moving forward we are 100% going to see her play Nelson Mandela in a biopic.
— Patti Harrison (@Party_Harderson) July 4, 2018
Johansson and filmmakers have been dared by Jamie Clayton to star cisgender actors in transgender roles. Jamie Clayton is a trangender actress who stars in Netflix’s Sense 8.
“Actors who are trans never even get to audition for anything other than roles of trans characters,” Clayton said in an all-caps tweet. “That’s the real issue. We can’t even get in the room.”
Johansson’s representative did not respond to the comments. This is not the first time the actress has landed into trouble for playing a role in a movie. Previously, she played the role of a robot in Ghost in the Shell. She played the robot character in Masamune Shirow’s original manga series as Motoko Kusanagi.
Critics said that it is yet another example of whitewashing Asian characters with Caucasion actors. Mamoru Oshii, who was the director of the original anime adaption Ghost in the Shell, defended Scarlett.