Richard Shotwell/Invision, via Associated
Actress Ruby Rose has deleted her social media presence after facing a backlash for being cast as “Batwoman” — not from the right, angry that the self-described lesbian character will be played as written, but from the left, who declared Rose “not gay enough” to play the female superhero.
I found this quote in an article written by Emily Zanotti for The Daily Wire called Ruby Rose Quits Twitter After Leftist Critics Declare She’s Not Gay ENOUGH To Play Batwoman.
Wait! What?
Since The Daily Wire is a conservative publication, and since social and political leftists seem to believe that any conservative news is “fake news,” I fact checked it (yeah, I do that), and according to the left leaning New York Times as well as Entertainment Weekly, it’s true.
What that heck (substitute a four letter word that starts with “F” [Edited to be less graphic])?
The EW states in part:
“Where on earth did ‘Ruby is not a lesbian therefore she can’t be batwoman’ come from — has to be the funniest most ridiculous thing I’ve ever read. I came out at 12? And have for the past 5 years had to deal with ‘she’s too gay’ how do y’all flip it like that? I didn’t change. I wish we would all support each other and our journeys,” the former Orange Is the New Black star reportedly tweeted shortly before shutting down her profile and disabling comments on her Instagram posts.
The Times soft soaped it, of course, at least as much as the facts would (supposedly) allow:
The complaints about the casting of Ms. Rose included assertions that she is not a lesbian, is not Jewish and does not have the acting skills to play the role. Ms. Rose said she was baffled by the first statement, posting on Twitter before she deleted her account that she “came out at 12” and spent the last five years being told she was “too gay” for certain roles: “How do y’all flip like that? I didn’t change.”
Oh, just some background. According to Wikipedia:
The modern Batwoman is written as being of Jewish descent and as a lesbian in an effort by DC editorial staff to diversify its publications and better connect to modern-day readership. Described as the highest-profile gay superhero to appear in stories published by DC, Batwoman’s sexual orientation drew wide media attention following her reintroduction, as well as both praise and criticism from the general public.
Welcome to the politically correct 21st century where any superhero must conform to progressive standards in order to be valid (which I guess includes gender fluid actresses).
I can sort of get why Scarlett Johansson withdrew from the role of playing a transsexual, but where is it written that says an actor/actress can only play a role that is exactly like them?
DC Comics depiction of Batwoman
Gay men have been playing straight men on television and in films for decades, and on stage for centuries.
I’m pretty sure Christian Bale isn’t the world’s greatest detective, and I’m almost positive that Henry Cavell can’t fly and bullets don’t bounce off of his chest. So Ruby Rose isn’t gay enough to play Batwoman.
It’s called “acting” for a reason. No, she really doesn’t have Batwoman’s skill sets, nor a lot of other qualities the fictional character possesses, but it doesn’t matter as long as she can play the role. Get it?
Please, someone enlighten me why her critics should be granted even the tiniest shred of credibility? What gross bigotry is this?
poweredbyrobots.com 
I normally don’t folks news stories like this – not to say that it is a good or bad thing to do – it is just not an area for me – so James – I enjoyed the way you described it – good points you make – although you could have just said insert a word that starts with “f” and we all would have understood completely / the next two sentences were not needed – unless you really wanted us to feel that word even more.
It I think heck was good there too.
–
The thing that stands out to me was how she said they flipped on her.
That is what I find crazy about the Hollywood scene and other high profile spotlight roles – so up and down – some say the NFL means not for long.
And then recently heard that the bands Creed and Three Doors Down are made fun of! 15 to 20 years ago Greg were popular –
And so when she said she felt like people flipped – that must be very very difficult to deal with as an actor or actress
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As far as the “F word” think, I really wanted to communicate outrage, and that seemed to do it for me. Unfortunately, I am reacting at least partially on emotion. I mean it seems like the “standards” for how leftists judge a person’s validity and worthiness seem to get narrower and stranger at every turn. In the “bad old days,” this role would have gone to a straight actress. In fact, on the television show “Arrow,” lesbians have been played by straight women (to the best of my knowledge). The same on “Supergirl.”
Okay, I can sort of get it. Again, in the bad old days, anyone who looked even remotely “ethnic” was tapped to play all sorts of ethnic roles, which is how Mexican actor Ricardo Montalbán was tapped to play the (Indian) Sikh warrior Kahn in the mid-1960s Star Trek episode, “Space Seed,” and later in the 80s reprised the role in “Star Trek II: The Wrath of Kahn.”
Today, we can probably find a closer match to these roles, but maybe not always perfectly. Sometimes Japanese-American actors play Koreans or Chinese characters. It happens. I have no idea what people are having a problem with Rose, but I suspect they might need to pay more attention to issues that have more to do with their individual lives…like getting one.
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Wow – this is a topic you know a lot about – and I get He outrage – but not an area I should have even choked in on—
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“Please, someone enlighten me why her critics should be granted even the tiniest shred of credibility?”
Sorry. I can’t.
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This one came out of left field for me. It’s like it’s not enough for at least some leftists to pretty much loose their minds over Donald Trump. Now they have to eat their own.
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For some, you can’t be too far to the left…or to the right.
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Yes, one thing I can say about myself is that I’m not an extremist (which sometimes drives people nuts because I’m not always easy to pin down), and yes, there are extremists on both sides of the aisle, but this seems like a whole new critter. It reminds me of what I said about the whole WorldCon meltdown and subsequent “adjustments” the convention has made.
I don’t have a lot of skin in the game, since I stopped watching the “Arrowverse” shows on The CW sometime ago, but it seems ridiculous to criticize an actress who’s been hired to play a lesbian superhero for not being gay enough.
Actresses Caity Lotz and Katrina Law have played lovers in the television show Arrow, and while I can find little to no information indicating Lotz’s sexual orientation, Law fellow actor Keith Andreen in January 2013.
My point is that straight women have been playing lesbians for years and probably longer, and there (to the best of my knowledge) hasn’t been much of a backlash. Why the sudden hostility toward Rose?
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I can’t answer that. These people are actors, and who and what they are in real life has little to do with how they can play a role. I can understand why Asians may be upset if white actors are made up to portray Asian characters when there are plenty of good Asian actors. Or can you imagine if a white actor (in a serious role) were cast to portray a black actor? But sexual orientation? That’s just weird to me.
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Look at the very bottom of the comments. I posted a link to a BBC story stating that The CW Network may have promised to cast a lesbian in the role, and that somehow Rose being gender fluid (which, to the best of my knowledge, can be expressed in a wide variety of ways), isn’t the same. Perhaps some people feel betrayed, enough at least to force Rose to delete her twitter account. I must say that the reception is mixed and a large number of people support her being cast as Batwoman as well.
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That is super weird.
And I could feel the irritation
in the f and so forth device alright.
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You said: I must say that the reception is mixed and a large number of people support her being cast as Batwoman as well.
That’s good.
I did read at least a couple articles like five or so years ago about lesbians being bothered by the portrayal of supposed lesbian sex… that it appeared hetero but with two women (in movies and so forth, one complaint being that the reason is in order to cater to hetero viewers). Okay, I’m just passing that on. I don’t know what the difference would be… I can only imagine. I did watch “The L Word” and enjoyed the storylines; I admit I usually fast-forwarded through “sex” (sorry, it didn’t interest me).
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Never saw it, but then again, I don’t have cable or even standard TV. I mentioned to Fandango that actresses Caity Lotz and Katrina Law portrayed lovers on the television show “Arrow.” I recall during their first kissing scene, Lotz looked decidedly uncomfortable, at least compared to those love scenes she did with Stephen Amell (I guess she’s bi), so maybe that’s part of the issue (though in subsequent scenes, she seemed to find her groove, so to speak).
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Ludicrous. An actor’s personal life should have no bearing on the characters they are able to portray! Nor should it be anyone’s business but the their own.
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{By the way, not “any … ” but Daily Wire, yes, would need to be checked just because they need to be.}
I like this (from you):
So Ruby Rose isn’t gay enough to play Batwoman.
It’s called “acting” for a reason. No, she really doesn’t have Batwoman’s skill sets, nor a lot of other qualities the fictional character possesses, but it doesn’t matter as long as she can play the role. Get it?
….
I’d like to know who the nutty critics are. They should be accountable and get clear pushback, which it looks like they are getting to some extent?
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{I mean… call me the left if you have to, but I wish Twitter would ban Alex Jones — they haven’t.}
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I heard that and frankly, I’m surprised. Of course, I wasn’t even aware of him until he started getting banned.
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Whoever they are, they’ve taken identity politics to a ridiculous extreme.
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Okay, according to the BBC, the CW Network had promised to cast a lesbian in the role of Batwoman (the comic book character has been openly gay since 2006) in order “to improve lesbian representation on screen.” Rose identifies herself as “gender fluid” so for some, maybe they believe the CW lied or went back on their word somehow.
That said, in other “Arrowverse” TV shows, often straight women would play lesbians, so I could only imagine, as many of Rose’s supporters state, that casting a gender fluid actress in the role is a “win.”
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