Sara Ramirez is sick and tired of people conflating them with the characters they play on TV.
“Been thinking long and hard about how to respond to The Hack Job’s article, ‘written’ by a white, Gen Z, non-binary person who asked me serious questions but expected a comedic response I guess (?),” they began.
Sara said the good news is they have a “dry sense of humor” and “a voice.” They continued, “And I am not afraid to use either. I trust that those of you who matter, who are not petulant children, who are smart enough to catch on to what was actually going on there, can perceive it for what it is: an attempt to mock my thoughtfulness and softness, while dismissing a valid existence and real human being in favor of TV show critiques that belonged elsewhere.”
“I am not the fictional characters I have played, nor am I responsible for the things that are written for them to say. I am a human being, an artist, an actor. And we are living in a world that has become increasingly hostile toward anyone who dares to free themselves from the gender binary or disrupt the mainstream.”
Sara shared some friendly reminders: that they can love women without identifying as one themself, and “feminists come in all genders.”
They also explained that a cis man is ultimately in charge of the dialogue of the show, not the actors themselves. If anyone has problems with what the actors say, “perhaps you should be interviewing him.”
“Further proof that this ‘writer’ knows little more about me than a Google search provides: I would have happily smoked that joint with them,” Sara concluded.
Whew! You can read the full Instagram post here.