Jameela Jamil was 'forced' to come out as queer after backlash over casting cishet host for new voguing show
Jameela Jamil has been the front face of yet another controversy as 'The Good Place' actress found herself being the target of major backlash her announcing that she'll be hosting a new show. But in the wake of the 'brutal' attacks hurled at her by Twitter users, Jamil has also come out as queer, in an elaborate post slamming the haters.
About a week ago, HBO Max announced that the 33-year-old star would appear on the streaming network's upcoming voguing competition series as both the MC and judge. The revelation led to profound backlash on social media where users slammed the decision, citing Jamil has no business hosting the show as a cisgender heterosexual woman. Other judges on the show include Megan Thee Stallion, Law Roach, and Leiomy Maldonado, with Dashaun Wesley as a commentator, and DJ MikeQ as the DJ. While Leiomy, Dashun are performers themselves and DJ MikeQ has 'helped to craft the sound of ballroom,' Law, despite no ties to ballroom, is part of the community behind the creation of voguing - or ballroom drag, which is associated with the LGBTQ community.
This sparked a heightened backlash aimed at Jamil as critics believed she does not belong to the community in any manner - forcing her to reveal that she is not cishet, but considers herself queer. The actress also confessed that she didn't want to share the news to the public this way, but 'mean comments' on Twitter propelled her towards it. "Twitter is brutal," she posted on the platform, adding: "This is why I never officially came out as queer. I added a rainbow to my name when I felt ready a few years ago, as it's not easy within the south Asian community to be accepted, and I always answered honestly if ever straight-up asked about it on Twitter. But I kept it low because I was scared of the pain of being accused of performative bandwagon jumping, over something that caused me a lot of confusion, fear, and turmoil when I was a kid."
Her post continued: "I didn't come from a family with *anyone* openly out. It's also scary as an actor to openly admit your sexuality, especially when you're already a brown female in your thirties. This is absolutely not how I wanted it to come out, I'm jumping off this hell app for a while because I don't want to read mean comments dismissing this. You can keep your thoughts. I know that being queer doesn't qualify me as ballroom. But I have privilege and power and a large following to bring to this show, (as does the absolutely iconic Megan Thee Stallion,) and its beautiful contestants and ballroom hosts. Sometimes it takes those with more power to help a show get off the ground so we can elevate marginalized stars that deserve the limelight and give them a chance. I'm not the MC. I'm not the main host. I'm just a lead judge due to my 11 years of hosting experience, being fully impartial, a newcomer to ballroom (like much of the audience will be) and therefore a window in for people who are just discovering it now, and being a longtime ally of the LGBTQ community."
The post concluded, saying: "We start shooting tomorrow and I'm really excited to watch these stars shine and be celebrated. I'm excited to work with Leiomy, Dashaun, and Mike Q. As I am with my friend Law Roach and Megan. It's f*cking hard to be asked to continue to be patient after so long of waiting for what you want. I know that. South Asian stories are almost never told without white stars. But I hope you don't let a few castings designed to help the show get off the ground stop you from supporting the talent from Ballroom on this show. They really are f***ing amazing and I'm really honoured to work with them."
Twitter, however, thinks otherwise, as users noted how she is exactly not the person fit to appear in those roles in a ballroom voguing competition. "I don't understand how a cishet person who (seemingly) isn't a part of the ballroom scene is going to be judging a vogueing competition. I'm not even being shady, I genuinely don't understand. What are the criteria for being a judge?" wrote a user, while others insisted the judges should be of the LGBTQ community exclusively.
"So many queer Black & brown queer creatives and ballroom house members could have used this type of platform, especially one centered in our culture,' wrote one, with another chiming in saying: "Billy Porter is right there!!!!!!!!!! Indya Moore is right there!!!!!!!! Angelica!!!! Ross!!!! Is!!! Right!!!! There!!!!!!!!!' another tweeted emphatically."
A few others noted how "There is nothing legendary about you erasing black queer culture like this. This just shows that diversity for you all is just ploy for money," and "This is such an awful way to find out all the queer people have died. myself included."
While the casting of the cisgender and heterosexual Megan Thee Stallion was also an issue, people mostly pointed out how Jamil, an ally in supporting marginalized groups, is being hypocritical. "This seems sort of ironic in that @jameelajamil is apparently taking the place of an already underprivileged group in Hollywood... hopefully I’m misunderstanding?" tweeted one, while another added: "Look the decision-makers are def the problem but... if I had no personal background or connection to the vogueing/ ballroom world and my brand was based on social justice and equity... there'd be no way i'd sign on to host... no matter how good the coin... but that's me...' said another.
While a critic tweeted "A part of being an “ally” is knowing your lane and not swerving." Jamil defended her involvement saying it's a way to broaden the show's audience. "I know some of us aren’t from ballroom, but we are here to bring our followings, press and new audiences to the show, to support and celebrate the ballroom community. That is all," she said.
For those unaware, voguing dates all the way back to the 1960s Harlem ballroom scene and began at New York drag competitions called 'balls,' reveals the National Museum of African American History and Culture. Named after the popular fashion magazine, it involved black and Latino dancers participating in a dance that requires exaggerated hand gestures and focuses on gender as a performance. It gained momentum through the 80s made more iconic by Madonna's 1990 single 'Vogue'.