American actor Halle Berry has pulled out of the running to play a transgender character in an upcoming untitled film following a social media backlash.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, over the weekend, the Oscar-winning actor said during an Instagram Live interview with hairstylist Christin Brown, that she would "probably" play a transgender man in her next film role. "[The film is about] a character where the woman is a trans character, so she's a woman that transitioned into a man. I love that I might be playing that character."
The news was met with a wave of criticism on social media with people highlighting the ongoing problem in Hollywood of a cisgender (people whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth) actor playing a transgender person. Berry was also heavily criticised for identifying the gender of the character incorrectly during the interview.
On Monday night (local time), Berry apologised and tweeted that she was no longer considering the role.
"Over the weekend I had the opportunity to discuss my consideration of an upcoming role as a transgender man, and I'd like to apologize for those remarks. As a cisgender woman, I now understand that I should not have considered this role and that the transgender community should undeniably have the opportunity to tell their own stories," she wrote on Twitter.
She added, "I am grateful for the guidance and critical conversation over the past few days and will continue to listen, educate and learn from this mistake. I vow to be an ally in using my voice to promote better representation on-screen, both in front of and behind the camera."
Berry's decision to pull out was met with praise from GLAAD, with the orgzation tweeting, "We are pleased that Halle Berry listened to the concerns of transgender people and learned from them. Other powerful people should do the same. A good place to start is by watching @Disclosure_Doc to learn about trans representation in media."
Hollywood has a history of cisgender actors playing transgender characters. Most recently, Jared Leto in 'Dallas Buyers Club' and Eddie Redmayne in 'The Dsh Girl'.
In 2018, Scarlett Johansson dropped out of 'Rub & Tug', the movie that would have seen her play a transgender man, after a similar backlash to Berry.
( With inputs from ANI )