Transgender actress Laverne Cox has
condemned the comments of stand-up comedian Lil Duval.
Appearing last week on the New York
City-based radio show The Breakfast Club, Duval was asked how
he would respond if he discovered he was sleeping with a transgender
woman.
“This might sound messed up and I
don't care. She dying,” Duval answered.
“I didn't say I was gonna kill
transgenders,” Duval said when questioned by host Charlamagne Tha
God. “I said, if one did that to me and they didn't tell me, I'mma
be so mad I'd probably kill them.”
Duval also dismissed calls from hosts
to be “politically correct.”
“That’s the good thing I like about
being me,” Duval said. “I can say what I want and do what I want
and people understand where I’m coming from. They understand I’m
not coming from a place of malice. They know I’m just speaking my
mind.”
Cox, who is best known for playing a
transgender inmate in the Netflix dramedy Orange is the New Black,
responded to Duval's comments in a series of tweets.
“Some folks think it's ok to joke
about wanting to kill us,” Cox wrote. “We have free speech but
that speech has consequences and trans folks are experiencing the
negative consequences with our lives. It hurts my spirit cause this
isn't funny. Our lives matter. Trans murder isn't a joke.”