Pop Culture Fix: It’s Impossible to Care About “New Mutants” Lesbian Love Story When The Director Doesn’t Care About Racism

Well hello again, friends; here’s your Monday Pop Culture Fix!


+ This X-Men New Mutants spin-off has turned into a real big woof. I mean it was kind of already a woof; it’s been in progress for half a decade. Three hundred years ago, back in March, Maisie Williams confirmed that her character, Rahne Sinclair, has a big lesbian love story with Blu Hunt’s Danielle Moonstar. Hunt says it’s “love at first sight.” Hurrah? But damn, every time director Josh Boone opens his mouth, it’s infuriating; and last week he may have finally sealed the deal on this movie just disappearing from public consciousness.

Gizmodo published an interview with him in which the interviewer asked about his choice to cast a non-Black actor (Henry Zaga) to play Afro-Latinx character Roberto, who actually deals with anti-Black racism in the comic books. Boone’s answer is so gross: “I didn’t care so much about the racism I’ve heard about in Brazil, about light-skinned versus dark-skinned. To me, it was I wanted to represent Brazil in a positive way and I wanted to find somebody who seems like he could look like a guy who’s had the silver spoon in his mouth, who has like a really rich dad and [Henry] just exemplified all these things.”

New Mutants co-creator Bob McLeod is pissed; not only did they whitewash a character he created, they also misspelled his name in the credits. Vulture has a run-down of what’s been going on with this disaster of a movie for the last five years.

+ Hello this profile of our new Batwoman, Javicia Leslie, and these new pics in The Hollywood Reporter are SO GREAT.

+ Wynonna Earp in WaPo: Queer fans saved the show; showrunner Emily Andras is returning the favor with the gayest season yet.

+ Caity Weaver profiling Keke Palmer is exactly what I needed to kick off this week.

+ MJ Rodriguez has joined Janet Mock in HBO’s adaptation of Between the World and Me.

+ Buried in this excellent Robin Thede interview, Natalie found this gem: “And then Brittani Nichols sold a show to Quibi, so she’s executive producing and starring in that.” Guess I’m going to have to figure out what Quibi is!

+ Wendie Malick, who voices Luz in The Owl House, is surprised but excited to be playing Disney’s first bisexual character.

+ The procedurals on ABC’s fall schedule have obviously been delayed, but it does look like Leslie Jones’ Supermarket Sweep is a go!

+ Amber Riley’s tribute to Naya Rivera on Jimmy Kimmel Live is going to break your heart all over again.

+ Allison P. Davis’ profile of Mariah Carey in New York Magazine is glorious and also surreal. They touch on the 2008 segment on Ellen’s show when Ellen basically forced Mariah to announce her pregnancy, which she miscarried soon after: “‘I was extremely uncomfortable with that moment is all I can say. And I really have had a hard time grappling with the aftermath,’ she says. ‘I wasn’t ready to tell anyone because I had had a miscarriage. I don’t want to throw anyone that’s already being thrown under any proverbial bus, but I didn’t enjoy that moment.’ Carey goes on to say that there is ‘an empathy that can be applied to those moments that I would have liked to have been implemented. But what am I supposed to do?'”

+ TV Line ranked Buffy‘s top 25 characters because they want to fight you again.

+ In case you didn’t know, your girl Holland Taylor is in Bill and Ted Face the Music. She told Variety she’s aware of the fact that she gets typecast as “all-powerful figures” — she doesn’t mind.

+ Ryan Murphy says American Horror Story season ten will begin filming in October.

+ Here’s what happened at last night’s MTV Video Music Awards.

+ The NBA players strike broke television — and television needs to stay broken.

Before you go! Autostraddle runs on the reader support of our AF+ Members. If this article meant something to you today — if it informed you or made you smile or feel seen, will you consider joining AF and supporting the people who make this queer media site possible?

Join AF+!

Heather Hogan

Heather Hogan is an Autostraddle senior editor who lives in New York City with her wife, Stacy, and their cackle of rescued pets. She's a member of the Television Critics Association, GALECA: The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics, and a Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer critic. You can also find her on Twitter and Instagram.

Heather has written 1718 articles for us.

6 Comments

  1. When a comment starts with “I didn’t care so much about the racism…” you don’t need to see the rest to know how garbage the person is.

  2. Can I give an extra shout out to ‘Just Shoot Me!’ and ‘Frasier’ star Wendie Malick still crushing at age 69?

Comments are closed.