Justin Theroux is responding to claims that he is transphobic after the Zoolander 2 trailer featured a character (portrayed by Benedict Cumberbatch) that made light of transgender individuals.
The character is named All and Ben Stiller‘s Zoolander asks “Are you like a male model or female model?” to which All replies, “All is all.” Justin wrote the film.
“I don’t even know what to make of it, because it hurts my feelings in a way. I take great care in the jokes I write, and the umbrage being taken is out of the context of the scene. I wish people would see the movie first. Satire is a thing that points out the idiots…” Justin told The Wrap.
Another of Justin‘s films, Tropic Thunder, has also received backlash for the use of the “r” word.
“The goal was not to mock or be cruel to the mentally challenged, but exalt in the stupidity of people who use that word. I’m all for letting words be ugly when the target is correct,” Justin said. “With social media and all the rest of it, people’s issues need to be heard … at the end of the day people are looking for bandwidth. People are looking for places to inject their voice. But our target is not, and never was, to disenfranchise anyone.”
