It’s official, Scarlett Johansson withdrew from her role in Rub & Tug, a film where she was to play a transgender man. The actress made the move after she received a lot of backlash.
According to Johansson, she had withdrawn her participation in the said film after people raised ethical questions about her role as Dante “Tex” Gill. She also stated that the understanding of the transgender community continues to go forward and she realized that her first statement about her casting was, in fact, insensitive.
Johansson went on by saying that she has great love and admiration for the transgender community.
Originally, Johansson had the lead in the upcoming film Rub & Tug as she would play the lead role of Dante “Tex” Gill who was a trans man. The BBC explained that Gill was a “Pittsburgh crime boss” born as a woman but identified himself as a man, even asking others to refer to him as “Mr. Gill.”
When the news of Johansson’s casting came out, the internet quickly reacted. A lot of people called for a trans man to play the lead role instead.
Sadly, this isn’t the first time Johansson sparked controversy because of a film role. She also received criticism for whitewashing her character in the film Ghost in the Shell.
