Angel Bismark Curiel, Pose star, on challenging
real-life transphobia after taking on the role of Papi on the FX series:
"There was an instance when I was on a set having shot,
I think, the first or second season of Pose, where I was in a car with a driver
and the driver said something extremely transphobic. I knew that this was a
make-it-or-break-it moment, this was do or die, you had to check this. [I told
him] ‘It’s because of gentlemen like [you] that trans women end up dead.’ I had
to check that, and the way I checked that, I had to hold space with his boss, I
had to hold space with him. I had to hold space with my boss, because that was
the only way we were gonna say, 'Hey, it doesn’t matter what show I’m on, it
doesn’t matter if I’m Lil Papi on Pose or not, this s**t is not OK and
here’s why it’s not OK and how are we going to fix it, what are we going to do
to make sure this gentleman knows that this is not OK?' Those are the hard
conversations that need to be had."
Good on him for standing up and speaking up. You can’t
change minds staying silent.
Sidenote: Curiel, who began dating Pose writer-director
and Black trans woman Janet Mock in 2018, says his relationship with Mock helped
inform his performance as Lil Papi, who is also a cisgender straight man in a
relationship with a trans woman.
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