Halle Berry has stepped away from role as transgender man

Halle Berry is the latest actor to make a major misstep by aligning herself with a role that would be better served by a member of the community to which her character belongs. Over the weekend, Berry announced that she was pursuing playing a transgender man in an upcoming feature film. After Berry’s decision was criticized on social media, the Oscar-winner took a beat, and in a refreshing twist, excused herself from the role without playing the victim card or the blame game. On Monday night, Berry apologized and turned her error in judgement into a teachable moment.On Saturday, Berry was interviewed by hairstylist Christin Brown on Instagram Live. The Monster’s Ball actor said that she was planning to return to her iconic short hairstyle for an upcoming role as a transgender man. Things went downhill quickly from there in a conversation that included Berry misgendering the character by calling the story a "woman’s story." “That’s what I want to experience and understand and study and explore,” Berry told Brown. “It’s really important to me to tell stories, and that’s a woman, that’s a female story – it changes to a man, but I want to understand the why and how of that. I want to get into it.”

Still trying to understand why Halle Berry would be interested in playing the role of a transgender man. Sigh! pic.twitter.com/S7W2y8SMfd

— A.J Raven (@tempest071990) July 5, 2020

Twitter users were quick to provide Berry an abbreviated education on misgendering trans people, pointing out that a trans man’s story is not in any way a woman’s story. On Monday, Berry apologized for her comments and announced she was stepping away from the role. “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,” wrote Berry in a Twitter message. “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.”

pic.twitter.com/qpE8Tw1Xmu

— Halle Berry (@halleberry) July 7, 2020

The response to Berry’s apology has been mixed. Some fans voiced their dismay over Berry turning down the role, further showing that conversations around the importance of representation must continue. Others applauded Berry’s decision but noted that she still needs to educate herself more on issues and language within the transgender community and noted that Berry did not address her continued misgendering during the interview with Brown.

Misgendering a trans man and insisting that was a trans man is a “female story” not only almost put a HUGE dent to your career. It also hurt a lot of fellow trans men’s experiences, as much as it hurt my experiences as a trans woman. I’m glad you listened and I hope you’ll learn.

— Ayse Louise Sozen (@LesserWachowski) July 7, 2020

This is pretty good!

It would have also been nice if you acknowledged misgendering your character in your remarks as well.— ✨ remy green says "black trans lives matter" ✨ (@j_remy_green) July 7, 2020

I appreciate your acknowledgement of this, but you should also apologize for referring to a trans man with she/her pronouns and it pronouns, and for calling a story about a trans man a female story. Those are dangerous remarks to make and to not acknowledge that is upsetting.

— J. R. Hart (@jrhartauthor) July 7, 2020

Berry’s situation is reminiscent of Scarlett Johansson’s announcement in 2018 that she would be playing a trans man in the film Rub & Tug. After receiving backlash for that casting, coupled with playing the lead in Ghost in the Shell, a film based on a Japanese manga character, Johansson doubled down, saying “You know, as an actor I should be allowed to play any person, or any tree, or any animal because that is my job and the requirements of my job.” Johansson later apologized for her comments and stepped away from Rub & Tug, telling Vanity Fair “I wasn’t aware of that conversation — I was uneducated. So I learned a lot through that process. I misjudged that.”[video_embed id='1973979']Before you go: Daniel Radcliffe voices support for transgender community[/video_embed]