Gabourey Sidibe has been a fan favorite among gay fans for years, especially since appearing on the hit season of “American Horror Story: Coven.” However, Sidibe had her LGBT fans, especially her transgender ones, up in arms last week when she made controversial jokes about the trans community on “The Arsenio Hall Show.”
While chatting with Hall about her time filming “Coven” in living New Orleans, Sidibe recalled frequenting a bar with her cast mates proceeded to make a joke about “tranny on tranny crime.”
Gabourey Sidibe: There was a bar that we would frequent and every time we’d go, when we were leaving every single time there was always like a gang of cops arresting trannies.
Audience: [Laughter]
Sidibe: Specifically trannies.
Arsenio Hall: Yeah…
Sidibe: And I don’t know what goes on with trannies but that tranny on tranny crime needs to stop!
Arsenio Hall and audience: [Laughter]
Sidibe [chuckling]: It is tearing our nation apart!
Although Sidibe unknowingly brought up the injustices that many trans people face in society, her seemingly “callous” treatment of the topic and the trans community in general quickly sparked outrage among some fans.
Mara Keisling, Executive Director of the National Center for Transgender Equality, talked with the Huffington Post afterwards about the damaging effects of Sidibe’s comments, saying:
“Using the word ‘tranny’ isn’t OK anymore. Using it to make fun of people is definitely not OK. And using it to make fun of any kind of violence is just plain wrong. I know she meant it in fun but that’s the problem in this case. It’s not just that she used the word ‘tranny’ but that she’s making fun of violence in a city where the police have a history of committing violence and discrimination against trans women of color. It’s the kind of thing that trans people listen to and say, ‘This is someone who is not thinking about our lives. This is someone who is making fun of our problems.’ Gabby is someone who has approached lots of different social issues with grace and class and so this is just such a disappointment,” Keisling said.
Despite the offense done, we doubt that Sidibe meant any harm with her jokes, and she later apologized for her comments. Read what she said in her apology after the cut. – nicholas robinson
