Sony gracefully steps in to correct fan who couldn’t get to grips with Elliot Page’s new pronouns
The Umbrella Academy’s Elliot Page (Rich Polk/Getty)
LGBT+ allyship might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Sony, but the tech giant struck the perfect balance when commenting on Elliot Page’s pronouns.
On 1 December the Juno and Umbrella Academy star Elliot Page bravely came out as transgender by sharing a lengthy statement on all his social media channels.
“I feel incredibly lucky to be writing this. To be here. To have arrived at this place in my life,” he said. “I can’t begin to express how remarkable it feels to finally love who I am enough to express my authentic self.”
Sony was among the many who rushed to congratulate him on Twitter, commenting on his post with a heart emoji. “Nice to see you support her Sony!” said one fan, misgendering the actor.
The tech company took it upon themselves to correct the obvious error. “He,” they replied quickly, “or them.”
*him
— Sony (@Sony) December 1, 2020
or them
— Sony (@Sony) December 1, 2020
This no-fuss approach to pronouns is one preferred by many trans and non-binary people. The LGBT+ Resource Centre recommends people respond to slip ups by quickly apologising for their mistake, correcting themselves and moving on.
While respecting pronouns is the bare minimum that trans people should be able to expect from people around them, it’s encouraging to see the huge multinational conglomerate take an uncompromising stance on the matter.
Especially when that multinational conglomerate has previously had beef with Elliot Page.
The actor worked with Sony in 2012 for the Playstation game Beyond: Two Souls, but the professional relationship turned sour when it emerged that naked images of him were included in the WikiLeaks archive of leaked Sony emails.
Page hadn’t allowed game developers to scan his naked body, so they instead created a fully-rendered naked model of his character. Page explored legal action against Sony when he found out the images had been leaked, but the matter was resolved out of court – and it certainly seems the air has cleared now.
