Variety Magazine Fuels Contention For Calling Anya Taylor-Joy A ‘Woman Of Color’
Image via Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com
Anya Taylor-Joy has snagged home a Golden Globe prize for best actress for her performance in Netflix’s The Queen’s Gambit. Her win has made her the first Latina actress to win the title of best actress for a limited series.
A little background on Taylor-Joy: she has Argentine ancestry and lived in Argentina for a few years when she was a child. In a video for Netflix’s Con Todo account, Taylor-Joy shared that she identifies as Latina, and addressed how her time in Argentina has shaped her.
Her win as the first Latina actress has made headlines on the internet, with Variety magazine acknowledging it in an article. However, the publication also identified her as a woman of color.
“Argentinian Taylor-Joy is the first woman of color to win this category since Queen Latifah in 2008 and only the fifth woman of color to win overall since 1982 when the category was introduced,” the article read.
Internet users were quick to notice the paragraph, and soon, many weighed their opinions on Twitter. “Anna Taylor-Joy can be both Latina + white! She is not a person of color and framing her win like this is really weird of Variety to do!” a Twitter user said.
In a 2018 article published by Vulture, Taylor-Joy spoke about her Latina identity, calling it a “weird mash-up” before living in the UK. Despite this, she never addressed herself as a woman of color and even acknowledged her white privilege despite being Latina. She also highlighted that she’s not taking away roles that belong to non-white Latinx people.
“I’m aware of the fact that I don’t look like a typical Latin person, and that’s not fair,” Taylor-Joy told Vulture. “I don’t want to be someone that you can just sub in for that role when I’m really white and blonde.”
After Variety’s article went viral for the wrong reasons, the publication quickly posted an update acknowledging that the actress identifies as a white Latina.
“A previous version identified Anya Taylor-Joy as a person of color. She has said she identifies as a white Latina,” reads the revised version.
I could listen to @anyataylorjoy say "me lo morfé" all day 🇦🇷🥰
— Con Todo (@contodonetflix) November 14, 2020
here, she shares how her Argentine roots have shaped her, and what she learned from playing the role of Beth Harmon on The Queen's Gambit. pic.twitter.com/aPMxSwD6iG
wait pic.twitter.com/edQ3I4NUxz
— Connor Goldsmith (@dreamoforgonon) March 1, 2021
Now why would you set my girl up like this https://t.co/vxXvz1zfyo pic.twitter.com/gXtdLsZ2b3
— Saffron Maeve (@saffronmaeve) March 1, 2021
Anya Taylor-Joy can be both Latina + white! She is not a person of color & framing her win like this is really weird of Variety to do! https://t.co/L92F0hCjGY
— Cyrus Cohen (@film_fag) March 1, 2021
Anya Taylor-Joy refused to be called WOC and instead identifies as white Latina. Oh boy! https://t.co/WxhIu1YwYm
— Lady of the Lake 🌟⚔️✨✨ (@Lady_Astor) March 1, 2021
[via Daily Dot, cover image via Featureflash Photo Agency / Shutterstock.com]
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