Scarlett Johansson, This Is A Trans Role You Appropriated, Not A Cis Feminine One

Scarlett Johansson obviously didn't get the message in 2016 when she took a whitewashed Major Motoko Kusanagi role that should have gone to an Asian actress in the movie Ghost In The Shell.  That pissed off fans of the manga looking forward to seeing it on the silver screen, and the movie subsequently tanked at the box office.

Now Johansson is slated to play trans man Dante 'Tex' Gill in the upcoming crime drama Rub & Tug directed by Rupert Sanders, the same person who cast her in the failed Ghost In The Shell movie. 

Tex Gill in the1970's and 1980's operated massage parlors in Pittsburgh that served as fronts for prostitution.   Gill also lived his life as a trans man, which is why we're tripping about Johansson getting this role.

Why this latest casting controversy has the trans community pissed off is because once again, we have a cisgender actor playing a transgender role.  In this case the actor has an unrepentant history of cultural appropriation

Two high profile transgender actresses in Trace Lysette and Jamie Clayton took to Twitter to put Johansson and Hollywood on blast for it.

"Oh word? So you can continue to play us but we can't play y'all?" Lysette wrote on her Twitter feed in reaction to Johansson's casting.  "Hollywood is so fucked.  I wouldn't be as upset if I was getting in the same roms as Jennifer Lawrence and Scarlett for cis roles, but we know that is not the case.  A mess." 

"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,"

Clayton echoed the same thoughts in her Twitter commentary about the jacked up casting .

"Actors who are trans never even get to audition for anything other than roles of trans characters.  That's the real issue.  We can't even get in the room.  Cast actors who are trans as non trans characters, I dare you."  

Trace and Jamie are both correct.  If the same reciprocity in being cast for cisgender roles was regularly extended to transgender Hollywood actors, we wouldn't be complaining about this casting of Johansson now. 

But the equitable Hollywood casting for trans actors isn't happening at this time, and Hollywood casting directors, directors and studios know it.  To add insult to injury, cisgender actors are getting awards for doing so while perpetuating a 'men in dresses' stereotype that leads to trans women getting violently assaulted while Hollywood pats itself on the back at awards time. 

And now Hollywood is handing trans masculine roles to cis women that should be played by trans masculine and nonbinary actors.  This is also reinforcing a stereotype trans men have to constantly fight in that they are really butch women.

Johansson poured more gasoline on the casting controversy by dismissively citing actors who have gotten awards for playing trans characters in a weak attempt to defend herself.

"Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment," Johansson said in a statement obtained by Bustle.

Naw boo boo kitty, not gonna work.   Even Tambor recognized the problem with casting cis people in trans roles when he accepted his second Emmy in 2016.

 "I'm not going to say this beautifully: To you people out there ... please give transgender talent a chance. Give them auditions. Give them their story," Tambor said in his Emmy acceptance speech. 

"I would be happy if I were the last cisgender male to play a transgender female," he added.

The bottom line is that trans actors are beyond sick and tired of not getting fair shots at auditioning for or getting roles written for cisgender people.  But you cis people get cast all day for the limited trans roles available with the weak excuse of 'we need a box office name to help this movie get made'.

Tangerine didn't have a box office name when they cast trans actress Mya Taylor as Alexandra.  The movie that cost $100,000 to make made $924,793 and received several awards, including a Spirit Award  for Taylor.

Don't even try to peddle the 'we couldn't find a trans masculine actor' lie.   Let's see, there's Scott Turner Schofield, Ian Harvie, Chaz Bono, Emmett Jack Lundberg and nonbinary actor Ellie Desautels for starters.

So naw Scarlett, this Tex Gill role is made for a trans masculine actor.   What's going to happen with you in it is the same thing that happened to Ghost In The Shell.  Your appropriating appearance in it will cause this film to get boycotted and tank at the box office.

Barack Obama is NOT The First Gay President

Guest Post from Renee of Womanist Musings

Check out this week's cover of Newsweek.

Last week, Barack Obama became the first sitting U.S. president to state unequivocal belief of same sex marriage.  This is an absolutely historic thing for Barack Obama to do however, it simply places him on the right side of history.  I don't believe in giving people accolades for doing what is morally right.  There has been the suggestion that because he did this during an election year that he has risked the possibility of a second term in office.  Despite the loud screaming from republican troll Mitt Romney and the like, the truth is that majority of Americans are in favor of same sex marriage, and this number continues to increase. Being in favor of something when it is politically expedient to do so, should not be cast as a great risk.

I normally don't comment on U.S. politics, though I stay up to date on all the issues, but the above image really irritated me.  What Barack Obama did does not make him the gay president, anymore than Bill Clinton was the first Black president.  You don't take on the identity of a marginalized person simply be attempting to be an ally.  Now, to be clear, I'm not pulling a no homo here, I am talking about the appropriation of a marginalized identity in order to give the appearance of being liberal, inclusive and tolerant. A straight man, cannot by definition be the gay president.  He can advocate for GLBT rights and in fact should do so, but I reject this appropriation.

I have never seen Obama as a true leftist, despite the way that the American right tries to paint him as the second coming of Karl Marx.  He only appears to be left, because the right is so far out of touch with reality.  The left right continuum in the U.S. is well and truly fucked, and I believe as an outsider, it's really easy to see. 

What are your thoughts on the Newsweek Cover?

PETA Racism Strikes Again

Y'all know I can't stand People Eating Tasty Animals, oops the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals fools.  It's not only because of their constant racist, sexist, transphobic, fatphobic, homophobic (pick one) fail in pushing their message, it's also run by Ingrid Newkirk who is best buds with FOX Noise's Bill O'Reilly.

Fresh off trying to pick a fight with Flavor Flav over his fried chicken restaurant in Iowa, the PETAoids have once again tried to appropriate African-American history and icons in order to pimp their agenda after we have repeatedly told their vanilla privileged behinds to refrain from doing that.

Flav's new yardbird venture is now closed because of some trouble back in April with some employee paychecks that bounced and disputes with his partner's business practices that resulted in its closure.

This latest episode of PETA failing badly has them according to BET.com putting up a six sided display across from the Museum of Natural History in Washington D.C. that compares animal cruelty to slavery, complete with images of cruelty to African-Americans and the Dr. King “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere” quote 

The NAACP called PETA's azzes out in 2005 over a traveling exhibit entitled: "Are Animals the New Slaves?" that compared images of lynched African-Americans to slaughtered cows.  

They were also called out for wearing Klan hoods to the Westminster Dog Show in New York and comparing it to the Holocaust.

Come to think of it, they engage in this racist crap so often the Klan needs to make PETA an auxiliary chapter  


"Once again, Black people are being pimped. You used us. You have used us enough.” then NAACP president of Greater New Haven chapters Scot X. Esdaile said at the opening of that 2005 exhibit there that raised the ire of African Americans in the area.

The historical oppression of African Americans disrespectfully being used repeatedly in PETA campaigns needs to cease and desist.   Until y'all permanently quit doing so, KFC will continue to get my money.

On that note, off to the Colonel for a three piece..  

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Kelli, Stop Appropriating The Term 'Blackface'

One of the things that continues to be an irritant to me as the child and godchild of historians is when my people's history is used or taken out of context by non African Americans to promote an agenda..


I get the fact there are trans people in this community that don't like drag shows.  But you cannot compare a drag show you don't like to a blackface minstrel show.as Kelli Busey did on her Facebook page while expressing her displeasure about a drag show fundraiser held by Central Arizona Rainbow Education (CARE)  that's taking place tonight and January 12.

Just as Audre Lorde called our Mary Daly in 1978 for comparing transpeople to performing in blackface in Gyn/Ecology,  I'm calling out your problematic use of the term 'Trans BlackFace' to describe a drag show you have a problem with.


Unless it has a racialized component to it, like Chucky's reprehensible 'act' and you are selling products based on that racialized characterization, it's just a drag show.

Blackface was specifically designed to demean, denigrate and disrespect African-Americans for over 100 years .   Drag shows for the most part do not meet that standard of disrespecting the trans community unless the performer is specifically designing the show to do precisely that, tossing in a racialized component to boot and getting repeatedly paid for it. 

So Kelli and others, stop appropriating the term 'blackface' to express your disapproval of drag shows.   It's insulting to the African American community and your African descended trans peeps who know the difference.