In a recent interview, Mj Rodriguez
discussed her Emmy nomination for Pose and how she worried the
world was not ready for a show with a transgender lead.
Rodriguez earned an Emmy nomination for
playing Blanca in Pose, which explores New York City's vibrant
ball scene of the 1980s and early 90s.
In a “The Envelope” podcast
interview, Rodriguez said that as a transgender actress she was
surprised by the Emmy nomination.
“What I think most surprised me about
being on this journey and being nominated as – it's kind of crazy
to hear myself say it – an outstanding leading actress in a drama
series, was being received as an actress, being taken seriously
within my craft and actually being accepted,” she
said.
“And the awareness of myself as a
Afro-Latina trans woman. It’s kind of astounding to me because for
so long I had my own insecurities, but I was also subjected to a lot
of discrimination, obviously, as a trans woman. So to see the change
happen over time and quicker than I expected, I’ve just been so
flabbergasted by it and I’m really proud of myself, but I’m also
proud of the human race – and actually getting it together and
knowing that we as trans women are humans, too, and that we walk this
earth just like how they do and that we love like how they do. We
have hearts, how they do. We believe, like any other human does.
They’re starting to see it and understand it.”
She added that she worried the show
would provoke violence and discrimination against the transgender
community.
“I was scared because at the time
when all of this was happening with auditions, there were still
dreadful things that were happening to trans individuals across the
globe – murders and just a lot of discrimination that was happening
against us,” Rodriguez said. “And I was worried that when this
show came out, we were going to get the full onslaught of that. We
were going to be told that this show does not need to be on
television screens.”
“I was fooled completely ... the love
that I got from the people has wowed me... I’m so thankful I was
fooled because if it did go the other way, I don’t know how I would
have mentally dealt with that,” she said.