Sam Smith’s team reveal if they’re he, she...or they
THE crew working on singer Sam Smith’s latest music video have been asked to reveal their preferred pronoun.
Smith, 29, announced a desire three years ago to be known as ‘they/their’ rather than ‘him’, and now an insider on the video shoot for Bluebird, the openly gay musician’s forthcoming track, has revealed that most of the cast and crew have agreed to disclose how they wish to be addressed.
Luke Monaghan, the film’s highly regarded director, refers to himself as a ‘he/him’ while a number of the 16 dance performers declare themselves as nonbinary. Four identify as ‘they/them’, two as ‘she/they’ and two as ‘they/she’.
A small number appear to have declined the request and there is anxiety on set that the complexity of preferred pronouns could lead to inadvertent errors.
The insider said: ‘I have never known anything like this before. In the past you would just be told someone’s name, now you are made aware of their pronouns.
They have all been written down and shared with the crew so they don’t get them wrong. But it is causing fear among some of those less aware of pronouns and the changing of them that they will accidentally say something wrong and there will be huge fall-outs.’
Smith – who has had four UK No1s, including the James Bond theme song Writing’s On The Wall – has acknowledged the challenges posed by preferred pronouns, saying: ‘I understand there will be many mistakes and mis-gendering, but all I ask is you please, please try.’