on
Australian singer and new director Sia took to Twitter the other day to defend herself and her new film ‘Music,’ which made a huge controversy among the disabled community.
On November 19, Sia, born Sia Kate Isobelle Furler, posted a teaser for the said movie, through Twitter. Alongside the video, she announced that the movie, starring actor Kate Hudson and dancer Maddie Ziegler, would be released in early 2021. However, reviews for the teaser were not like she had expected to get.
A good number of Twitter users criticized the video, in which Ziegler plays a young woman with autism, and the film itself. The founder of Kaleidoscope Society, Margaux Joffe wrote that the film is “another example of casting a non-disabled to play a disabled character” and called out producers to hire actually autistic people.
Similarly, the non-profit organization, American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) released the following message to criticize the casting:
“That feeling when you see a film cast a non-disabled person to play a disabled character… We get angry. Then, we get glad to have the @HonTonyCoelho @NBCUniversal Media Scholarship to support actual disabled people who want to work in media & comms.”
After the countless tweets, which call out people not to watch Sia’s film, the singer went to Twitter and tried to explain why she had chosen Ziegler. She wrote that she had intended to work with an actual nonverbal girl for the film, however, the girl found the set environment “unpleasant and stressful.” She went on saying in another tweet:
“I cast thirteen neuroatypical people, three trans folks, and not as fu**ing prostitutes or drug addicts but as doctors, nurses, and singers. Fu**ing sad nobody’s even seen the dang movie.”
The ‘Cheap Thrills’ singer concluded her words by saying that her heart has always been in the right place.
Here are the tweets.
I actually tried working with a a beautiful young girl non verbal on the spectrum and she found it unpleasant and stressful. So that’s why I cast Maddie.
— sia (@Sia) November 20, 2020
I cast thirteen neuroatypical people, three trans folk, and not as fucking prostitutes or drug addicts but s as doctors, nurses and singers. Fucking sad nobody’s even seen the dang movie. My heart has always been in the right place.
— sia (@Sia) November 20, 2020
