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Halle Berry has become the most recent actor to drop out of a role, due to online backlash.
The actor participated in an Instagram live interview on Friday, where she told fans she had not yet been officially cast, but was preparing for the role of a trans character.
Berry said in the interview “[It’s] 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, who this woman was is so interesting to me, and that will probably be my next project”
Social media users noticed immediately that Berry misgendered the character, consistently gendering the character of a trans man as ‘a woman’ and ‘she’.
During the interview, Berry also added that she wanted to take a “deep dive” into “that world”, presumably meaning the trans and LGBT+ community.
On Monday evening, following opposition from trans groups and activists online, the star issued an apology, as well as pulling out of the role, explaining “the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories.”
Berry’s apology read “Over the weekend I had the opportunity to discuss my consideration of an upcoming role as a transgender man, and I’d like to apologize 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,”
“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.”
Many social media users, especially on Twitter, have praised the star, for clearly educating herself, and listening to the opinions of the trans community.
Many cisgender actors have come under fire for playing trans characters in the last few years, including Eddie Redmayne for playing Lili in The Danish Girl, and Scarlett Johansson, who left the role she was set to play in Rub And Tug, after receiving backlash from the trans community.
Perhaps all this controversy is what will finally push Hollywood to cast trans actors, both in roles as their gender, and roles as trans characters.