Laverne Cox targeted by transphobic attack in Los Angeles
Laverne Cox, a star of Netflix’s Orange is the New Black, has spoken of her shock after she and a friend were targeted in a transphobic attack in Los Angeles.
In a 10-minute video posted on Instagram, Cox said she had been out for a walk with her friend when a man “aggressively” asked them for the time. As the friend was looking at their watch, Cox said the man asked her if she was a “guy or girl”.
The friend, whom Cox wished to keep anonymous, told the man to “fuck off” and was then attacked by the man.
“I’m kind of in shock,” Cox said in the Instagram video. “I’m walking, I’m hearing all of this is happening like in a split second and then all of a sudden the guy is attacking my friend.
“I pull out my phone and call 911 … All of a sudden it’s over and the guy is gone. I put my phone away and I’m like: ‘What just happened?’”
Cox told her followers that the attack, though shocking, did not surprise her. “I have a long history of harassment,” she said. “It’s not safe in the world and I don’t like to think about that a lot but it is the truth. It’s the truth, you’re not safe if you are a trans person. Obviously, I know this well.”
She added: “The guy really wanted me to answer so that he could spook whether I’m trans or not. I don’t know why it matters. At the end of the day, it’s like who cares?
“I’m in a hoodie and yoga pants, I’m completely covered up, I’ve got my mask on. Who cares if I’m trans? How does this affect your life?”
She said she was very lucky and grateful that her friend was with her. “It doesn’t matter who you are. You can be Laverne Cox, you know, or whatever that means. If you’re trans, you’re going to experience stuff like this. Luckily my friend is safe, luckily I’m safe.”
Cox became the first transgender person to be nominated for an Emmy award for her role as Sophia Burset in
Orange is the New Black, the Netflix series about inmates at a US women’s prison.
This year Cox released Disclosure, a Netflix documentary on trans representation. The documentary criticised Hollywood’s history of transgender stereotypes and tropes. “We need more trans folks working behind the scenes – directing, producing, below the line positions, just more,” she told the Guardian in June. “And more representation in positions of power.”