Roland Emmerich Defends Stonewall, Star Jeremy Irvine Defends Being a White Twink

Director Roland Emmerich took to Facebook to do some damage control after the trailer for his movie Stonewall was almost universally condemed for whitewashing gay history. He tried to tie his decision to make the lead character a white cis boy from the midwest to the current issue of LGBT bullying and homelessness, which doesn’t quiiiiiiiiiiite go over well with the commenters on Facebook. “We are all the same in our struggle for acceptance” he says. Except that is patently untrue, especially if you are a QPOC. You can weigh in for yourself here.

Shortly after, star Jeremy Irvine posted on Instagram that he had seen the movie, and rest assured all races are represented in the depiction of the events at Stonewall, and everybody’s heart was in the right place when the made the film. So I guess we shall see.

To anyone with concerns about the diversity of the #StonewallMovie. I saw the movie for the first time last week and can assure you all that it represents almost every race and section of society that was so fundamental to one of the most important civil rights movements in living history. Marsha P Johnson is a major part of the movie, and although first hand accounts of who threw the first brick in the riots vary wildly, it is a fictional black transvestite character played by the very talented @vlad_alexis who pulls out the first brick in the riot scenes. My character is adopted by a group of street kids whilst sleeping rough in New York. In my opinion, the story is driven by the leader of this gang played by @jonnybeauchamp who gives an extraordinary performance as a Puerto Rican transvestite struggling to survive on the streets. Jonathan Rhys Meyers’ character represents the Mattachine Society, who were at the time a mostly white and middle class gay rights group who stood against violence and radicalism. I felt incredibly nervous taking on this role knowing how important the subject matter is to so many people but Roland Emmerich is one of the most sensitive and heartfelt directors I’ve worked with and I hope that, as an ensemble, we have not only done such an important story justice but also made a good movie as well. Jeremy

A photo posted by Jeremy Irvine (@_jeremyirvine) on Aug 6, 2015 at 12:36pm PDT

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