There were gay characters (the late Willie Garson was a standout as Stanford Blatch), but often when “Sex and the City” ventured into queer territory, the results have aged poorly. While it was forward-thinking, the show presented the world of New York City as almost unfailingly white. “Sex and the City” aired on HBO from 1998 to 2004. “The conflict is what keeps the story moving.” This movement, this fight, this party of pride, isn’t just for the people who make us feel cozy and cute - it’s for everyone.”Īt the end of production on Season 1, Nixon gave Ramírez a wrap gift with a card that read, “Let’s see all the ways they come up with to torture us if we get picked up for a second season.” “But the movement for liberation includes everyone, even people we don’t like. Che is a great reminder that even when we don’t like someone in our community, they still deserve love, safety and joy, like everyone else,” they say. “What I love about Che is that Che is complicated and messy and human. Ramírez says their approach to the role comes from an activist’s place. But Ramírez playing a sexually free, nonbinary person of color who is proud of who they are shows how far we’ve come - even if there are haters. They discuss their childhood, during which they moved from Mazatlán, Mexico, to San Diego at age 7 their time on Broadway after graduating from Juilliard in 1997 their years on “Grey’s Anatomy” at the show’s height as the bisexual character Callie Torres their activism as a queer actor and their mental health struggles, including contemplating suicide early in the pandemic.Īnd yes, it may be easy to be snarky about Che. “A person like Sara is really threatening and frightening to people,” Nixon says.ĭuring a recent two-and-a-half-hour interview at a bustling restaurant in midtown Manhattan, Ramírez is the opposite of frightening. “I mean, I think you’ve got a lot of marriage-police people out there.” Nixon also wonders whether the explosion was because the Miranda-Che relationship is so different from TV’s usual “girl-on-girl action that people across the board think is really sexy.” “I don’t know what to make of it,” she says. Nixon - who says she suggested Ramírez to King after admiring their work for years - is confused about the seismic reaction to the character. Those are his and his writing team’s jokes.”
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“That’s the beauty of being grown - I don’t have to receive everything! And this is Michael’s baby. “I choose what I receive, right?” they ask rhetorically. They’re eminently “aware that Che made waves,” but have deliberately avoided absorbing specifics of the online tsunami: “Other people’s opinions of a character - that’s not something I can allow into my process.” In person, they are earnest and present - and also quick to laugh. Ramírez, 46, largely didn’t do press during “And Just Like That …,” nor have they since. “And what everybody’s concerned about,” King says, “is a nonbinary stand-up comic in the present day.” For gay Che haters, the call was coming from inside the house. When those detractors included LGBTQ viewers, the idea of Che exposed that perhaps those people simply wanted more palatable representation: more white, and more cisgender. Whether those viewers were turned off by Che’s brash persona or by the show’s semi-cringe approach to Che’s comedy - or because Miranda’s obsession with Che made a fool of the beloved character Steve (David Eigenberg) - Che became an object of cruel mockery, and the progenitor of a million “Hey, it’s Che Diaz” memes and jokes about their Netflix “comedy concert,” as Miranda nerdily called it. But to some old-school “Sex and the City” viewers, Che was a bridge too far in the show’s attempt to be more inclusive by adding characters of color to the core friend group of Carrie (Sarah Jessica Parker), Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Charlotte (Kristin Davis). Ramírez’s personal evolution has taken place largely in public after they came to prominence by winning a Tony in 2005 for “Spamalot,” and then co-starring on “Grey’s Anatomy” for 10 seasons, and their casting on the iconic television franchise is unquestionably a leap forward in representation.Īnd Che certainly had their fans, who appreciated Ramírez’s performance, and understood what King and “And Just Like That …” were doing with the character. The character served as a Rorschach test for viewers.
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I want to show more of Che rather than less of Che. “I want to show the dimension of Che that people didn’t see, for whatever reason - because they were blinded, out of fear or terror. “One of my burning passions about Season 2 is Che,” he says. King himself is effusive when he speaks about Ramírez - and about Che.