Bill & Ted star Alex Winter emphatically declares that Black trans lives matter. Excellent!
Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure was released in 1989. (IMDb/ Orion Pictures)
Alex Winter, star of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted Face the Music, has declared on Twitter that Black trans lives matter, a statement fans have described as “‘be excellent to each other’ in action”.
Responding to a tweet asking for his thoughts on “Bill being a trans icon”, Alex Winter simply responded with the Black trans flag.
https://twitter.com/Winter/status/1305575966362615808
When one follower pointed out “that’s actually the Black trans pride flag”, Winter said: “Yes, I posted this flag intentionally.”
— Sam Zeiberg (@SamZoidberg) September 15, 2020
https://twitter.com/StarlingV3/status/1305589182270787592
Fans left messages of thanks in response Winter’s posts, pointing out that some fandoms had become less than friendly spaces for trans people.
One Twitter user wrote: “It’s been an incredibly bad time online for a lot of trans people (and trans POC) in various fandom spaces the last couple of weeks, so from one trans fan to you: Thank you for being excellent to us.”
“Thank you,” said another. “It’s always good to see childhood heroes who think I’m human. It means the world.”
Thank you. It’s always good to see childhood heroes who think I’m human. It means the world.— Olivia Hill (@machineiv) September 14, 2020
One person shared the response of their trans friend, which they said included “joyful yelling”.
The wrote: “LEGEND. Thanks for supporting some really marginalised folk.
“I know they appreciate every bit of support they get in a world that mostly rejects them.
“I have a trans friend who literally voice messaged me with joyful yelling when they saw your tweet. On their behalf, you rock!”
https://twitter.com/jocastarora/status/1305695948023238662
Winter even got a response from Bre Kidman, the first-ever openly non-binary person to run for US Senate, who wrote: “Just, like, please be advised that seldom does a day pass where I don’t think about how f**king cool you are.”
Alex Winter starred alongside Keanu Reeves in the 1989 cult sci-fi movie, which was followed by a sequel in 1991: Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey.
Last month saw the release of the long-awaited third instalment in the US, in which non-binary actor Brigitte Lundy-Paine plays Ted’s child, Billie. Bill & Ted Face the Music is currently in UK cinemas.
