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Ahead of Jagged Little Pill’s Broadway re-opening on Oct. 21, its producers have apologized for mishandling one character’s gender identity, outlining several steps the production is taking to offer a clearer and more respectful representation of its gender non-conforming character.
On Friday (Sept. 17), the show’s lead producers Vivek J. Tiwary, Arvind Ethan David and Eva Price posted a lengthy statement to the production’s website and social media, acknowledging missteps in how they publicly spoke about and identified Jo, a lovestruck teen dealing with religious parents, their sexuality and a souring relationship while also going on their own gender journey, which has no confirmed outcome in the show.
The statement began by thanking “those who have spoken up on this subject” before acknowledging the time it took for the production to publicly respond to criticisms around its language and characterization of Jo. “We owe you a response in both words and actions,” the statement reads. “It has taken a moment to put in place the actions, so we also apologize for the delay in these words. We recognized the importance of the work and decided that doing it well was more important than doing it quickly.”
The issue around Jo’s gender and whether they identified broadly as non-binary, as another more specific gender identity or at all, was raised as the show made its way from a Boston to Broadway stage. The character was played by Lauren Patten, a cisgender woman, but Jagged Little Pill also directly referenced that Jo at the very least wasn’t a cisgender woman or man, with the character using they/them pronouns and having their identity invalidated by various people around them, among other narrative points. Many at the time labeled Jo as non-binary, though that identity label had never been explicitly attached to the character in the show.
Things became complicated after the show moved to Broadway in 2019, and audiences watched Jagged Little Pill with those previous discussions of gender removed. Marketing had also seemingly removed mentions of gender identity as among issues tackled by the show and in an interview with Vulture, Patten — who started referring to Jo with she/her pronouns on social media, responded to a question about the show’s pronoun shift, saying, “Jo never was written as anything other than cis.”
The statement acknowledges all of this, saying that Jagged Little Pill’s producers “set out to portray a character on a gender expansive journey without a known outcome” but that during the creative process, and shift from Boston to Broadway, mistakes were made around how the team handled the character’s evolution in “a process designed to clarify and streamline.”
“Compounding our mistake, we then stated publicly and categorically that Jo was never written or conceived as non-binary. That discounted and dismissed what people saw and felt in this character’s journey. We should not have done that,” the statement says. “We should have, instead, engaged in an open discussion about nuance and gender spectrum.”
The producers acknowledged the “hurt” of their “failure and its consequences” as well as “silence” for both Jagged Little Pill’s cast and fans, before outlining four key areas where the team has since made steps to rectify the mistakes in their portrayal of Jo. That starts with explicitly stating that Jo’s is “a story of a gender-nonconforming teen who is on an open-ended journey with regard to their queerness and gender identity.” It then confirms that a new dramaturgical team featuring non-binary, transgender, and BIPOC representation was brought in to “revisit” the script, and help the show to “commit to clarity and integrity in the telling of Jo’s story.”
They also addressed the issue of casting, promising that the production has adopted practices that “intentionally broaden” hiring for “all roles to artists of all gender identities.” That includes ensuring all future casting is not only explicit about Jo’s gender journey but will “prioritize auditioning actors for the role who are on gender journeys or understand that experience personally — including artists who are non-binary, gender fluid, gender-expansive — or otherwise fall under the trans community umbrella.”
Tiwary, David and Price also confirmed several other off-screen efforts, including partnerships with The Trevor Project and Trans Lifeline, as well as anti-bias training related to transphobia and anti-racism that will be offered to existing company members to help support a more inclusive, safe and supportive environment for Jagged Little Pill’s new non-binary, trans, queer, and BIPOC hires.
“We do these things not to quell debate around these issues,” the statement concludes. “We are humbled by, and grateful for, the critical conversations that continue to occur. We welcome all who would be constructive in this enterprise. Broadway has much work to do. We have much work to do. We look forward to doing it together.”
Jagged Little Pill is based on Alanis Morissette’s hit 1995 album of the same name, with music by Morissette and Glen Ballard. The show is directed by Diane Paulus, with its book written by Diablo Cody and choreography from Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui. After premiering at the American Repertory Theater in Massachusetts on May 5, 2018, it went into previews at Broadway’s Broadhurst Theatre in November 2019, before opening on Dec. 5 that same year.
Read the full statement from Jagged Little Pill’s producers here.
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.
Billie Eilish had tears in her eyes when she recently watched her own documentary again.
Eilish opened up about the personal moment in a virtual appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, which was just uploaded to YouTube on Sept. 16.
“I’ve always been very, very strong-willed and honest, which I think is a blessing and a curse, but the funny thing is that the older I’ve gotten, the less confident I’ve gotten,” Eilish admitted in the interview with Barrymore, who was paying compliments to her work ethic and vision. “And it kind of made me, like … I rewatched the doc a few weeks ago. And it made me cry because I was thinking how free-spirited I was and how open-minded I was.”
“The media just like tears it away from you,” said Eilish. “It’s not fun right now.”
The conversation with Eilish, whose concert film Happier Than Ever: A Love Letter to Los Angeles premiered on Disney+ in early September and whose documentary Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry was released on Apple TV+ earlier this year, then shifted over to the artist’s relationship with fans.
“One moment I was a fan, and then suddenly I was looked at as this like, higher up,” she said. “Even when I was 14. And it was so weird because I was like, ‘I’m not even anyone. I just make music and these kids that I feel like I already know — suddenly like, ‘Oh they’re Billie’s fans, and then there’s Billie.’ So that’s why it was so weird to me.”
“I think of them as like literally my skin, like part of me and how I get through stuff,” Eilish, who in July released her sophomore album, Happier Than Ever, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. “They always have my back. And they’re fans just as much as I’m a fan, but that doesn’t make them any less than me or anybody else, you know?”
Watch the full interview below.
The Billboard Latin Music Awards 2021 are less than a week away. The star-studded show will parade out an array of Latin and internationally renowned artists in an evening that will feature performances by chart-topping artists Camila Cabello, Karol G, Juanes, Banda MS, Christian Nodal, Rauw Alejandro, Joss Favela and Prince Royce, and other surprises.
In addition to Daddy Yankee receiving the Billboard Hall of Fame Award, finalists and winners will be honored at the award ceremony to be broadcast live on the Telemundo network at 8 p.m. ET from the Watsco Center in Miami on Thursday, Sept. 23. The coveted event will cover 59 categories across the major music genres of Latin pop, tropical, Latin rhythm and regional Mexican.
The night will also see an array of new faces whose outstanding performances throughout Billboard Latin charts, during the Feb. 1, 2020 through Aug. 7, 2021 period, have earned them a space among the finalists. In anticipation of next week’s awards, Billboard has compiled a list of this year’s first-time finalists in alphabetical order, with a brew of genres among its tallies.
Black Eyed Peas (eight nods)
Crossover Artist of the Year
Hot Latin Song of the Year – “Ritmo (Bad Boys For Life)”
Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Event – “Ritmo (Bad Boys For Life)”
Sales Song of the Year – “Ritmo (Bad Boys For Life)”
Sales Song of the Year – “Mamacita”
Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Duo or Group
Latin Pop Song of the Year – “Mamacita”
Latin Rhythm Song of the Year – “Ritmo (Bad Boys For Life)”
Camilo (five nods)
Artist of the Year, New
Latin Pop Artist of the Year, Solo
Latin Pop Song of the Year – “Si Me Dices Que Sí”
Latin Pop Album of the Year – Mis Manos
Latin Pop Album of the Year – Por Primera Vez
Dua Lipa (one nod)
Crossover Artist of the Year
Edgar ‘Edge’ Barrera (one nod)
Songwriter of the Year
Frankie Ruiz (one nod)
Tropical Albums of the Year – The Greatest Salsa Ever, Vol. 1
Grupo Firme (two nods)
Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year, Duo or Group
Regional Mexican Song of the Year – “Yo Ya No Vuelvo Contigo”
J.Rey Soul (two nods)
Sales Song of the Year – “Mamacita”
Latin Pop Song of the Year – “Mamacita”
Junior H (two nods)
Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Solo
Regional Mexican Albums of the Year – En Un Sueño
Kali Uchis (seven nods)
Artist of the Year, New
Hot Latin Song of the Year – “Telepatía”
Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year, Female
Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Female
Latin Pop Artist of the Year, Solo
Latin Pop Song of the Year – “Telepatía”
Latin Pop Album of the Year – Sin Miedo (Del Amor y Otros Demonios)
Los Dos Carnales (4 nods)
Hot Latin Songs Artist of the Year, Duo or Group
Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Duo or Group
Regional Mexican Song of the Year – “Cabrón y Vago”
Regional Mexican Song of the Year – “El Envidioso”
Los Legendarios (2 nods)
Top Latin Albums Artist of the Year, Duo or Group
Latin Rhythm Artist of the Year, Duo or Group
Mora (one nod)
Productor del Año / Producer of the Year
Myke Towers (three nods)
Artist of the Year, New
Latin Airplay Song of the Year – “Caramelo”
Tropical Song of the Year – “Travesuras”
Natanael Cano (one nod)
Regional Mexican Artist of the Year, Solo
Nicki Minaj (six nods)
Crossover Artist of the Year
Hot Latin Song of the Year – “Tusa”
Hot Latin Song of the Year, Vocal Event – “Tusa”
Latin Airplay Song of the Year – “Tusa”
Sales Song of the Year – “Tusa”
Latin Rhythm Song of the Year – “Tusa”
Ñengo Flow (one nod)
Streaming Song of the Year – “Safaera”
Ovy On The Drums (one nod)
Producer of the Year
Piso 21 (two nods)
Latin Pop Artist of the Year, Duo or Group
Latin Pop Album of the Year – El Amor en Los Tiempos del Perreo
Rauw Alejandro (two nods)
Artist of the Year, New
Latin Pop Song of the Year – “TBT”
Súbelo Neo (one nod)
Producer of the Year
The awards coincide with Billboard Latin Music Week, which returns to Miami from Sept. 20-25, with a roster of star speakers that includes Karol G, Daddy Yankee and Nicky Jam. For more information on Billboard Latin Music Week and to register for it, visit billboardlatinmusicweek.com.
Considered the longest-running awards show in Latin music, the Billboard Latin Music Awards is the only awards show to honor the most popular albums, songs, and performers in Latin music as determined by the sales, streaming radio airplay, and social data that informs Billboard’s weekly charts during a one-year period.
Olivia Rodrigo’s reached many milestones very early in her career — with a No. 1 debut album and a smash hit in her breakthrough single “Drivers License,” to start — but it wasn’t until this weekend that she played her first real concert, an experience that she described from a Las Vegas stage as “surreal.”
Though Rodrigo has performed for a live audience during one-off televised events, like her appearance at last week’s VMAs, the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival had the singer delivering a more substantial five-song set in support of Sour.
She kicked things off with her album opener, the high energy “Brutal,” and then “Jealousy, Jealousy.”
“This is a really special day for me because this is sort of like my first show,” she told the crowd from the fest’s daytime stage on Saturday (Sept. 18). “I’m just so grateful that you guys are here with me experiencing this. Thank you so much.”
“Speaking of firsts, this is the first song I put out,” she said, sitting at the piano to begin “Drivers License.” As she played her hit, she encouraged the audience — where some fans were spotted in Olivia Rodrigo and Sour tees — to join in, though she didn’t have to. They were already singing along before she could say “let me hear ya.”
Seemingly overcome with emotion over the experience, Rodrigo gushed, “”You guys are just like the best crowd ever. This is amazing.”
Rodrigo’s set continued with “Traitor” followed by “Good 4 U” as the closing number, and then she shouted out a “thank you” to Vegas as she blew kisses and ran off the stage.
Watch some clips from her first concert below.
“Brutal”
“Jealousy, Jealousy”
“Drivers License”
“Traitor”
“Good 4 U”
Dua Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion met up in Las Vegas over the weekend ahead of their upcoming arena tour.
The 26-year-old pop superstar was in Sin City on Friday (Sept. 17) to perform at the 2021 iHeartRadio Music Festival, where she delivered such crowd-pleasing hits as “New Rules,” “Love Again” and “Hallucinate.”
“Vegas, this is amazing,” Lipa told the T-Mobile Arena audience. “This is my first time back onstage since 2020, so it’s been a long while. I hope you guys are having a good time.”
During the event, Lipa was honored by Ryan Seacrest with the iHeartRadio titanium award for her hit song “Levitating,” which reached 1 billion total audience spins across iHeartRadio stations. The track peaked at No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in March 2020.
Meanwhile, Megan Thee Stallion was in Vegas for her headlining set at the 2021 Life Is Beautiful festival in downtown. Later in the evening, Lipa took to her Instagram Story to share a clip of the hip-hop star performing onstage at the Marquee Nightclub at The Cosmopolitan.
“Lets go hot girl,” Lipa captioned the clip, tagging Megan.
The singer also shared a behind-the-scenes photo gallery on Instagram of the two music stars making silly faces and posing together in the club. In the snapshots, Lipa is seen wearing a light blue lace catsuit, while Megan rocks a skin-tight pastel outfit.
“If love is a gamble baby let me roll my dice,” Lipa captioned the slideshow.
Last week, Lipa announced that she’d be teaming up with Megan Thee Stallion on her upcoming 28-city North American Future Nostalgia tour. The arena outing, in support of her Grammy-winning album of the same title, is scheduled to launch Feb. 9 in Miami and wrap April 1 in Vancouver.
See Lipa and Megan Thee Stallion’s Instagram posts below.
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