Jared Leto heckled at film festival
By Alexandra Heilbron on February 6, 2014 | 7 Comments
Jared Leto was heckled at the Santa Barbara Film Festival’s Virtuosos Awards on Tuesday after accepting an award for his portrayal of transgender AIDS patient “Rayon” in Dallas Buyers Club. He was walking back to his seat when a woman, who according to eyewitnesses appeared to be a transgender woman, yelled out: “You don’t deserve an award. Trans misogyny does not deserve an award!” Jared took it in stride, asking the heckler to explain. “You’re a man,” she yelled. “You shouldn’t play a transgendered role!” Jared, who has also won a Golden Globe for his performance and is nominated for an Academy Award, calmly asked her whether gay actors could play straight roles, but rather than answering the question, she complained that straight actors often win awards for playing transgendered people.
He replied, “Then you’ve made sure people that are gay, people that aren’t straight, people like the ‘Rayons’ of the world would never have the opportunity to turn the tables and explore parts of that art.” The audience applauded and Jared then offered to speak to the heckler after the event during an interview in which the award recipients talk to the audience, saying, “The door is open.”
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He strikes me as an extremely strange person.
If gays played gays and trans genders played trans genders and straights played straights it wouldn’t be acting,it would be type casting!
If this is all accurate then I’d say this guy is pretty F’kn calm and classy. Good on him.
Wow, sounds like he handled that extremely well. I don’t think there’s anything else he could’ve done in that situation to diffuse the situation or explain his artistic choices any more clearly!
I’m impressed that he was so calm and spoke so well…the heckler should understand this is acting and art and interpretation, and that his performance was a portrayal only, not a political stand.
Jared’s response was excellent. If he had turned around and started yelling and swearing the heckler would have won, but instead as Linda said he was so calm and spoke so well,it gave him more credit and class in the situation the heckler put him in.
He is an actor for gawd sake….that’s what they do,play characters that aren’t themselves.Sheesh