The second season of the popular Netflix series “Squid Game” has some LGBT activists up in arms because a “cis man” was cast to play the part of a transgender-identified character.
The series, which became a massive hit in 2021, is a dystopian survival thriller about broke contestants vying to win a cash prize on a game show. To be victorious, they have to participate in a series of children’s games such as Red Light/Green Light and Marbles, but losing a game is a death sentence.
Actor Park Sung-hoo was cast in the Korean-language show’s second season to play the role of Hyun-Ju, a transgender woman. But activists wish an actual trans-identifying star had been cast instead.
“This is not how you give representation… a cis man pretending to be part of a minority group just doesn’t sit right with me, especially when they could’ve hired an actual trans actress,” one person wrote on X.
“Could they not cast an actual transgender woman… this gonna piss me off,” a second commenter wrote.
There were plenty of people in the comments pointing out the flaw in the argument that an actor couldn’t pretend to be someone he wasn’t.
“People mad they cast a man to play a man,” one person wrote.
“An actor pretending to be someone pretending. Wokeception!” another joked.
Park said during a “Meet the Cast” interview that the character Hyun-Ju is a former special forces soldier who is working to raise money for gender reassignment surgery.
“Even though she faces prejudices and tough situations, she shows incredible strength, decisiveness, and natural leadership. Through her resilience, she breaks down stereotypes and shines as an inspiring character,” the actor said.
The second season of “Squid Game” premieres on December 26.
This issue has come up before on the topic of straight actors playing gay roles in Hollywood.
“There’s no part I’ve ever played where I wasn’t playing something I’m not. It’s part of the gig,” actor Eric McCormack, who played Will on the sitcom “Will & Grace,” said on the topic earlier this year.
The actor continued, “If gay actors weren’t allowed to play straight actors, Broadway would be over. So this is what we do.”
Meanwhile, Tom Hanks believes the opposite is true.
“Could a straight man do what I did in ‘Philadelphia’ now? No, and rightly so,” he told The New York Times in a 2022 interview.
“The whole point of ‘Philadelphia’ was don’t be afraid. One of the reasons people weren’t afraid of that movie is that I was playing a gay man,” he added. “We’re beyond that now. I don’t think people would accept the inauthenticity of a straight guy playing a gay guy. It’s not a crime, it’s not boohoo, that someone would say we are going to demand more of a movie in the modern realm of authenticity.”
