https://www.nationsonline.org/gallery/UK/View-of-Glasgow-from-Queens-Park.jpg
Awww, isn’t it pretty?
Looks can be deceiving, as so many of us know all too well. James McAvoy is being alternately praised and roasted for calling out his hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, for making his costars in the play Cyrano de Bergerac feel anything but welcome.
The Daily Mail reports McAvoy calling the threats his Women of Color costars received as “sexually explicit and violent,” and bad enough to make him “regret” bringing the play to Glasgow.
Them’s fighting words, apparently, since Glasgow representatives have responded with the predictable outrage of people everywhere who get called on shitty behavior they hoped to get away with.
One individual who refused to be named suggested McAvoy was simply “looking for a bit of a profile.”
This has become the go-to move for anyone trying to throw the heat off themselves: insist the party criticizing abuse is simply out for popularity.
The fact that McAvoy is already a huge-name celebrity and does not benefit particularly from two brief articles on this topic that will fade with tomorrow’s news seems not to have occured to this commentator. Or, worse, this is simply the thing people say now when things like this transpire. “They’re just out for attention” — because what else could a celebrity possibly want from telling the truth about offensive abuse?
I’ve no idea personally whether Glasgow is particularly racist or not. I would imagine that given the U.K.’s history as a colonialist nation, and given the general fragility of white people who tend towards poverty, Scotland likely is more outwardly racist than average. I also find it unlikely that McAvoy would publicly lie about something so easily disproven.
When you feel shame, perhaps it’s time to stop talking and start learning, folks. Just a suggestion.
Bravo to McAvoy. Good on him for raising a difficult conversation that costs him relationships with his own hometown, something he clearly values. This is what real allyship looks like. We can all learn something from him.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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