Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor; Photo: Getty Images
*Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor is speaking out about the queer erasure in the cinematic adaption of Alice Walker’s beloved “The Color Purple” novel.
“The Color Purple is a book about Black lesbians. Whether the choice was made to focus on that or not in the cinematic iterations of The Color Purple, it’s still a movie about Black lesbians,” Ellis-Taylor told Buzzfeed. “People can try to say the story is about sisterhood, but it’s a story about Black lesbians. Period.”
She continued, “What is hard for me is that when we have those spaces where we can honor the truth of that, we walk away from it. We suppress it. We hide it. We sanitize it. In the sanitizing of it, someone like me — knowing that The Color Purple is a book about Black lesbians — looks at that and thinks, ‘You’re sanitizing me and my friends, and other people who I love and adore. Why?’”
Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor appears in director Blitz Bazawule’s 2023 musical remake of “The Color Purple,” which centers on a woman named Celie and her journey of surviving racism and domestic abuse.
Bazawule’s and Steven Spielberg’s 1985 film have been criticized for downplaying the lesbian romance between Celie and Shug Avery. Spielberg’s film stars Whoopi Goldberg as Celie while Fantasia takes on the role in the newest film with Taraji P. Henson as Shug.
TARAJI P. HENSON as Shug Avery in Warner Bros. Pictures’ bold new take on a classic, “THE COLOR PURPLE,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. © 2023 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved.
“The first time that I saw The Color Purple, it [was]before I understood who I was,” Elli-Taylor said. “I knew that watching Margaret Avery kiss Whoopi Goldberg was astonishing, exciting, and affirming. It showed me the possibility of myself and the possibility to love a woman who loves me in return. I’ll never get over that. It lives with me.”
Meanwhile, we reported earlier that rapper Boosie Badazz walked out of “The Color Purple” movie due to the queer content.
Boosie took his two minor daughters to watch the film and explained that he swiftly exited the screening during the lesbian love scenes.
“I had to walk out this Color Purple movie ([and]two other older couples walked out also) because I had my little girls with me,” he wrote on Twitter/X last month.
“It seemed like a [rainbow]love story!! Good acting, but whoever wrote the script is pushing the narrative hard!! As a parent, I will not let my little girl watch this film.”
LGBTQ+ advocates were immediately outraged over Boosie’s stance, with trans influencer TS Madison writing, “Sir: the character you play in real life is MISTER, The Daddy, The pastor and all the other men who abused CELIE in that movie!! And have the nerve to finally be “concerned” about what a kiss would do to “influence” your daughter,” the TV star wrote.
READ MORE: Boosie ‘Walked Out’ of ‘The Color Purple’ Movie Over Queer Content
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