Los Angeles July 15 (IANS) Hollywood s transgender community has applauded actress Scarlett Johansson s decision to withdraw from a project on a trans man after she courted backlash for taking on the role.
Johansson announced that she was exiting "Rub & Tug" a film in which she was set to star as Dante Tex Gill a transgender man.
The actress issued a statement saying she had "decided to respectfully withdraw my participation in the project" following ethical concerns about her participation as a cisgender actress.
"Our cultural understanding of transgender people continues to advance and I ve learned a lot from the community since making my first statement about my casting and realise it was insensitive " she added.
Transgender actors filmmakers artistes and activists who were at The Hollywood Reporter s office here for a discussion about representation in the entertainment industry lauded her decision.
"You are awesome " said Buck Angel with others expressing relief that the public outcry on behalf of the trans community had been heard and acted upon.
"Scarlett deciding to pull out was a good example of listening to the community and that was the right thing to do " said Rhys Ernst an Emmy nominated producer and director known for his work on "Transparent" "This is Me" and the upcoming feature "Adam".
"Rub & Tug" tells the story of Dante Tex Gill who operated a massage parlour and prostitution business in Pittsburgh in the 1970s and 1980s. When the project was announced on July 2 with Johansson on board there was an immediate backlash online both on social media and in various news outlets. The consensus was that the role should have gone to a trans performer The Hollywood Reporter reported.
Jen Richards known for creating the series "Her Story" analysed Johansson s well-received statement one that included a troubling statistic from GLAAD about representation -- "LGBTQ+ characters dropped 40 per cent in 2017 from the previous year with no representation of trans characters in any major studio release -- commented: "I m going to assume what she says in the statement which is clearly very well-crafted by a team of very smart people was nonetheless in earnest."
Zackary Drucker an artiste cultural producer and filmmaker who has worked on "Transparent" said she is hopeful this is a turning point in Hollywood.
"We are so troubled and so ravaged by feeling ignored by feeling exploited by feeling that our stories are not our own " she said.
For those who felt that the controversy and criticism grew from the transgender community attempting to police who should and shouldn t be allowed to act in whatever project they choose actress Alexandra Grey said: "What we re saying is that actors should have the artistic freedom to play any roles. We re not saying that you can t portray these characters.
"We re saying we just want to have the opportunity as well to go out for any types of roles. We d like to be invited for anything that you got."

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