Saying that she has “heard” the public outcry about the film that features Maddie Ziegler as an autistic teenager, Sia’s tweets followed the film, marking two Golden Globe nominations.
One of the biggest surprises at the Golden Globe nomination ceremony, held on Wednesday morning, was the inclusion of Sia’s next debut film in the direction of “Music”, starring his muse Maddie Ziegler as an autistic teenager.
The film was poorly received by many critics (currently 29 percent in the Rotten tomatoes) amid a series of criticisms and controversies about the casting of Ziegler, among other things, and Sia’s initial responses to criticism. The singer was asked to cast a neurotypical actress for Ziegler, for using “special skills” instead of “handicaps” and for her depiction of prone restraint.
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Sia says casting Maddie Ziegler for an autistic role was nepotism, not ableism
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Initially, Sia was irreverent in her reaction to the increasingly strong reaction, which now includes a petition with more than 17,000 signatures calling for the film to be canceled.
Afterwards, she showed some remorse for this reaction, posting that she admits “being able, to a certain extent; I’m not proud of it”, as well as emphasizing: “I learned my lesson”.
The film was nominated for Best Picture, Musical or Comedy, while Kate Hudson received the award for Best Actress for portraying a woman who suddenly found herself caring for her non-verbal autistic sister, Music, portrayed by Ziegler.
Almost immediately after the nominations were released, Sia posted a series of tweets, which remained available for approximately an hour before she completely deleted her Twitter account, according to Variety. Your Instagram account remains active, but those comments are not posted there.
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Sia responds fiercely to the reaction against Maddie Ziegler’s casting in the autistic role
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In the first two, Sia wrote: “I promise, I have heard. The film MUSIC will advance this warning at the beginning of the film: MUSIC in no way tolerates or recommends the use of restraint in autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists specializing in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive feedback from deep pressure to help in the safety of collapse. “
She followed them with a two-word message, open for interpretation. “I’m sorry,” she wrote. Whether it refers to the use of restraint only in the film, or the general response of the autistic community to the film, is unclear.
Regarding scenes from the film involving restrictions, Sia posted in an additional tweet, “I intend to remove the restriction scenes from all future impressions”, explaining. “I heard the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not complete enough, nor broad enough.”
It is also unclear whether the warning about the use of restrictions will be presented before the film, even after it no longer includes those scenes. “Music” is scheduled to launch in selected IMAX cinemas on February 10, before being made available on demand two days later.
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