Jessica Chastain Weighs In on Disney’s Handling of ‘Don’t Say Gay’ Bill: ‘It’s Important to Take a Stand’

variety.com:

Wilson Chapman editorJessica Chastain is nominated for best actress at the 2022 Oscars for “The Eyes of Tammy Faye,” a film produced by Disney-owned company Searchlight.

On the red carpet of the awards show, Chastain discussed the company’s controversial response to the “Don’t Say Gay” bill in Florida.“I think it’s important to take a stand against discriminatory, bigoted legislation,” Chastain told Variety senior culture and events editor Marc Malkin on the Oscars red carpet. “It doesn’t matter who you are, it doesn’t matter what your company is.

I think anything that is discriminatory, that makes one group feel separate from the whole is unloving, and needs to have a very quick and swift stance against.” During her interview with Variety On the Carpet presented by DIRECTV, Chastain also discussed her reaction to the letter written by the employees of Pixar, in which they responded to the controversy by revealing that Disney had censored scenes of same-sex affection in nearly all of their films.“It was a very emotional, beautiful letter to read,” Chastain told Variety. “And I think, the more people that speak up when something isn’t being approached in an appropriate way, then we’re gonna have more appropriate responses to bigoted legislation.”In addition to Chastain’s nomination, “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” won best makeup and hairstyling during the pre-show award segment.

Chastain made headlines before the ceremony by announcing she intended to leave the carpet early in order to support her makeup team, and was in attendance while they received the award..