The Tony Awards, the ceremony for excellence on Broadway, is arguably the fourth gayest event of the year. Behind only Pride, Halloween, and Drag Race Finale night, gays across the country….nay, the world, gather in front of their TVs to watch a variety of song-and-dance routines to make the gays feel GAY! The happy kind! It’s truly a white gay’s paradise!
That’s why it’s only appropriate to not only erase an entire, gender non-conforming community, but be rewarded for it! Lauren Patten, the actress (emphasis on the ESS!) who played Jo in Jagged Little Pill, won the Tony for Best Actress! The women’s award! For LADIES!!
The controversy stems from the fact that the character Jo, with a pretty obviously genderless name, was originally non-binary. The non-binary Jo was then changed to a cis woman character after Patten’s casting, and all references to Jo being non-binary were removed from the original text.
However, Lauren claimed the role was ALWAYS a cis woman, which makes total sense because the Jagged Little Pill official Twitter page put out a statement apologizing for the aforementioned trans and non-binary erasure. Production DEFINITELY wouldn’t do that (after a year and a half of silence, and just days before the Tony’s) if they DIDN’T erase trans and non-binary people, right? RIGHT?! There is NOTHING fishy here, right?!
There is also nothing fishy about the fact that, according to Deadline, Patten allegedly “shifted from referring to her Jagged character Jo as ‘they’ or ‘them’ to ‘she’ or ‘her.'”
The musical, which has the general aesthetic of one of those “hate has no home here” yard signs in rich White Libs’ yards, was a fan-favorite until the controversy. Lauren even seemed to recognize the scandal in her acceptance speech, where she said the following: “First and foremost, I want to thank my trans and nonbinary friends and colleagues who have engaged with me in difficult conversations, that have joined me in dialogue about my character Jo.”
IRONIC, don’t ya think?
In response, the trans and non-binary community would like to thank Lauren for the conversations that she may or may not have had with us about the character that was apparently, according to her, always a cis woman. This apology definitely seems sincere! THANK U! You’ve washed your hands clean of this!
Patten continued, “And I am so excited to see the action that comes from (these conversations), and to see where that leads our future as theater artists in this country.”
Said “action” appears to be her continuing the role, while her fellow non-binary and BIPOC cast mates are resigning due to mistreatment. YASSS QUEEN! You are FORGIVEN! Get it??