Halle Berry withdraws from transgender role, apologises after backlash: Vow to promote better representation

Hollywood star Halle Berry has apologised and pulled out from playing a transgender character in a movie following criticism on social media. The 53-year-old actor had spoken about the role during an Instagram Live interview. “(The film is about) a character where the woman is a trans character, so she’s a woman that transitioned into a man,” Berry said in the interview with hairstylist Christin Brown. “She’s a character in a project I love that I might be doing.” The announcement was followed by severe social media backlash with many people highlighting the issue of cisgender actors playing transgender roles in Hollywood. [caption id=“attachment_5169941” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Halle Berry. Image via Twitter/@sherdogdotcom[/caption] Berry apologised on Monday night and tweeted that she was no longer considering the role. Here is her tweet

pic.twitter.com/qpE8Tw1Xmu

— Halle Berry (@halleberry) July 7, 2020

Hollywood is waking up to criticism when it comes to trans representation onscreen. In the past, cisgender actors have played trans characters be it Jared Leto in _Dallas Buyers Clu_b or Eddie Redmayne in The Danish Girl. In 2018,  Scarlett Johansson was cast to play Dante Tex Gill, a transgender man, in Rupert Sanders’ Rub and Tug. She dropped out from the role after owing to severe backlash from the LGBTQ+ community. (With inputs from Press Trust of India)