Ubiquitous
2024-10-05 08:30:42 UTC
Actor Will Ferrell said he regrets his visit to a Texas restaurant
after his trans co-star, Harper Steele, received an awkward response
from diners.
It happened while Ferrell and Steele, a former "Saturday Night Live"
head writer, were filming their new Netflix documentary, "Will &
Harper," which follows their 17-day road trip across the country "to
bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self" after
Steele came out as transgender in 2022.
They received what they described as an unexpected and uncomfortable
response from diners at a Texas restaurant after Steele mentioned the
state hadn't done enough for trans rights, the New York Times reported.
"I'm from Iowa, but I will raise a glass to your great state of Texas,"
Steele said to a receptive audience of diners at the Big Texan Steak
Ranch in Amarillo, where Ferrell and Steele planned to attempt the
restaurant's famous 72-ounce steak challenge.
"I wish you guys would do more for trans rights in this state," Steele
added, which silenced the cheers and was met with a few groans from the
audience, Chron reported.
"Cheers to Texas and trans rights, right?" Ferrell added. The toast
didn't make it into the documentary, but Steele and Ferrell shared
their responses to the moment afterward.
"The room started to feel very wrong to me," Steele said in the film.
"I was feeling a little like my transness was on display, I guess, and
suddenly that sort of made me feel not great."
"The saddest part for me is I just feel I feel like I let you down
in that moment," Ferrell said in response.
"I didn't really have a grasp on how intense it was going to be and
felt responsible for not properly vetting the situation we were putting
ourselves in," Ferrell told The New York Times. "That felt like it was
going to be this benign place where you eat a big steak in the amount
of time, and then you walk in and it's a thousand people seated in this
room and I was like, 'Oh, why are we here?'"
Steele described the feeling of being "on display" in that moment.
"We gave a little toast, and I said something about passing a trans
bill, and the room did a kind of reversal and a little bit of a boo and
a woman shouted out, We still love you. I hate the phrase," Steele
said. "I could be misinterpreting this woman completely, but this is
the feeling I had in the room: The still is conditional. You still
love me when I finally give up being trans and give my life over to
Christ. They still love me even though Im some kind of sinner or
something. I felt that."
"??I wished I'd walked in and said: 'No. This is going to be terrible.
Let's just go,'" Ferrell said in response. "I was feeling that remorse
and guilt of even going there."
Steele had previously criticized the New York Times in an interview
with The Independent as "generally left-leaning, but also sometimes
very anti-trans. Its odd..."
"Its why I first tend to ask reporters who interview me if they
believe in me," Steele added in that interview. "Do they believe that I
exist? That Im valid? Because thats not always part of the
conversation. I like to start there. Because there are many people in
the liberal community who cant seem to get their heads around it for
one reason or another."
Ferrell also said that "transphobia" comes from people "not being
confident" in themselves.
"There is hatred out there," Ferrell told The Independent. "Its very
real, and its very unsafe for trans people in certain situations."
"Its so strange to me, because Harper is finally... her," he added.
"Shes finally who she was always meant to be. Whether or not you can
ultimately wrap your head around that, why would you care if somebodys
happy? Why is that threatening to you? If the trans community is a
threat to you, I think it stems from not being confident or safe with
yourself."
--
Let's go Brandon!
after his trans co-star, Harper Steele, received an awkward response
from diners.
It happened while Ferrell and Steele, a former "Saturday Night Live"
head writer, were filming their new Netflix documentary, "Will &
Harper," which follows their 17-day road trip across the country "to
bond and reintroduce Harper to the country as her true self" after
Steele came out as transgender in 2022.
They received what they described as an unexpected and uncomfortable
response from diners at a Texas restaurant after Steele mentioned the
state hadn't done enough for trans rights, the New York Times reported.
"I'm from Iowa, but I will raise a glass to your great state of Texas,"
Steele said to a receptive audience of diners at the Big Texan Steak
Ranch in Amarillo, where Ferrell and Steele planned to attempt the
restaurant's famous 72-ounce steak challenge.
"I wish you guys would do more for trans rights in this state," Steele
added, which silenced the cheers and was met with a few groans from the
audience, Chron reported.
"Cheers to Texas and trans rights, right?" Ferrell added. The toast
didn't make it into the documentary, but Steele and Ferrell shared
their responses to the moment afterward.
"The room started to feel very wrong to me," Steele said in the film.
"I was feeling a little like my transness was on display, I guess, and
suddenly that sort of made me feel not great."
"The saddest part for me is I just feel I feel like I let you down
in that moment," Ferrell said in response.
"I didn't really have a grasp on how intense it was going to be and
felt responsible for not properly vetting the situation we were putting
ourselves in," Ferrell told The New York Times. "That felt like it was
going to be this benign place where you eat a big steak in the amount
of time, and then you walk in and it's a thousand people seated in this
room and I was like, 'Oh, why are we here?'"
Steele described the feeling of being "on display" in that moment.
"We gave a little toast, and I said something about passing a trans
bill, and the room did a kind of reversal and a little bit of a boo and
a woman shouted out, We still love you. I hate the phrase," Steele
said. "I could be misinterpreting this woman completely, but this is
the feeling I had in the room: The still is conditional. You still
love me when I finally give up being trans and give my life over to
Christ. They still love me even though Im some kind of sinner or
something. I felt that."
"??I wished I'd walked in and said: 'No. This is going to be terrible.
Let's just go,'" Ferrell said in response. "I was feeling that remorse
and guilt of even going there."
Steele had previously criticized the New York Times in an interview
with The Independent as "generally left-leaning, but also sometimes
very anti-trans. Its odd..."
"Its why I first tend to ask reporters who interview me if they
believe in me," Steele added in that interview. "Do they believe that I
exist? That Im valid? Because thats not always part of the
conversation. I like to start there. Because there are many people in
the liberal community who cant seem to get their heads around it for
one reason or another."
Ferrell also said that "transphobia" comes from people "not being
confident" in themselves.
"There is hatred out there," Ferrell told The Independent. "Its very
real, and its very unsafe for trans people in certain situations."
"Its so strange to me, because Harper is finally... her," he added.
"Shes finally who she was always meant to be. Whether or not you can
ultimately wrap your head around that, why would you care if somebodys
happy? Why is that threatening to you? If the trans community is a
threat to you, I think it stems from not being confident or safe with
yourself."
--
Let's go Brandon!