The Switch creator Amy Fox, who I’ve previously interviewed, has released a statement following the news of upcoming FX series Pose casting five transgender actors.
Fox’s statement in full:
While we applaud the recent press coverage of FX’s forthcoming series,Pose, many of these stories have contained factual errors which misrepresent our company, and we hope to see them addressed or corrected. While Pose will no doubt make a strong case for high quality scripted transgender stories on TV, these articles suggests that Pose has more trans leads than any other TV show. We are happy to report that this is incorrect – another series got there first.
The Switch is a 6×30′ sitcom starring five (5) transgender/non-binary stars (Nyla Rose, Lindsay Coryne Klug, Amy Fox, Vincent Viezzer, and Chance Kingsmyth), plus other transgender supporting cast. It broadcast on OUTtv in 2016, and has been available in the US on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play and Vimeo since this summer. It was hailed as TV’s first transgender sitcom since its pilot aired in 2014, when The Hollywood Reporter wrote about The Switch following the Kickstarter campaign that greenlit the show.
The Switch was (and thus far remains) unique as the only broadcast television series featuring a predominantly transgender cast playing transgender characters. Series showrunner and transgender activist, Amy Fox created The Switch to address Hollywood’s reluctance at portraying transgender characters as ordinary human beings, and casting cis-gender (not trans) actors in these roles.
In addition to the five transgender leads in The Switch, the series also features four other transgender actors in other roles, including punk-rock star Kieran Strange, and the model, Jenna Talackova, who was famously disqualified by Donald Trump’s> Miss Universe Canada beauty pageant because she was not born a female. Many of its producers and crew are also trans.
We wish to correct the record not because it’s important who was first, but because it is necessary to recognize the vision and bravery of the earliest trailblazers in the nascent realm of scripted transgender content. To be out as trans took courage in 2014 when the original pilot episode aired. But coming forward as a trans content creator in a space indifferent at best and openly hostile at worst paved the way for shows like Ryan Murphy’s Pose.
We look forward to seeing how you will handle this errata, and are standing by for comment.
Sincerely –
Amy Fox
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