Ellen Page: It’s ‘borderline offensive’ to say actors in LGBT roles are ‘brave’
Ellen Page attends the premiere of Netflix’s The Umbrella Academy at ArcLight Hollywood on February 12, 2019 in Hollywood, California. (Rich Fury/Getty)
Ellen Page has opened up about actors playing characters different to their own sexual orientation or gender identity, saying its not “brave”.
The ‘Freeheld’ star spoken in a new interview with Time magazine.
She said: “Maybe this is a bad thing to say, but I have a hard time when people call actors brave.
“I don’t really get that, because our job is to read something on a page.”
Page went on to say: “When people are [called] brave in regards to playing LGBTQ people, that’s borderline offensive.
“I’m never going to be considered brave for playing a straight person, and nor should I be.”
The Juno star, who came out as gay last year, cornered Presidential wannabe Ted Cruz as he was flipping burgers for a campaign photo op at the Iowa State Fair earlier this year – and proceeded to grill him about his homophobic beliefs.
Senator Cruz is one of the most notoriously anti-LGBT Republicans in contention for the Presidential nomination, filing desperate bills to permit anti-gay discrimination on religious grounds, and congratulating homophobic businesspeople for refusing to serve gays.
When the X-Men actress asked him about “LGBT people being fired for being gay or trans”, he flatly denied that gay people are persecuted, claiming that “right now we’re seeing Bible-believing Christians being persecuted for living according to their faith”.
Page recently attended a Pride event in Jamaica, where gay people risk death by vigilante mobs and homosexuality is illegal.
