Actor Will Ferrell says he regrets visiting a Texas restaurant after his transgender co-star Harper Steele received an awkward reaction from a customer.
It's a new Netflix movie that follows Ferrell and Steele, former “Saturday Night Live” head writers, on a 17-day road trip across the country “to bond and reintroduce Harper to this country.” It happened while filming the documentary “Will & Harper.” After Steele comes out as transgender in 2022, as his true self.''
They said they received an unexpected and unpleasant reaction from customers at a Texas restaurant after Steele said the state wasn't doing enough for transgender rights. The New York Times reported.
“I'm from Iowa, but here's a toast to the great state of Texas,” Steele told welcoming guests at Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo. So Ferrell and Steele planned to try the restaurant's famous 72 Steak Lunch. ounce steak challenge.
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele attend the screening of Netflix's 'Will & Harper' at Paris Theater on September 24, 2024 in New York City. (Photo courtesy of Cindy Ord/WireImage)
“I wish you all would do more for transgender rights in this state,” Steele added, which silenced the cheers and elicited a few groans from the audience. Mr. Kron reported..
“Cheers to Texas and transgender rights, right?” Ferrell added. The toast was not included in the documentary, but Steele and Ferrell described their reactions in the moments that followed.
“This room started to feel very wrong to me,” Steele said in the film. “I suddenly felt sick because I felt like my transgender identity was on display.”
“The saddest thing for me is…I feel like I let you down in that moment,” Ferrell responded.
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“I had no idea how intense it was going to be, and I felt guilty for not properly vetting the situation we were in,” Ferrell told The New York Times. “It felt like over time it became a serene place where you get a big steak, and then you walk in and there's 1,000 people sitting in this room and I thought, 'Oh. , “Why are we here?” ”
Harper Steele and Will Ferrell (Getty Images)
Steele described the feeling of that moment as “being on display.”
“We had a little toast and said something about passing trans legislation. Then the room kind of flipped, there was a little booing, and a woman yelled, 'We still love you.'” I hate that word,” Steele said. “I may have completely misunderstood this woman, but this is the feeling I felt in the room. 'Still' is conditional. I have finally given up on being transgender and have given up on Christ. Even if I give my life to you, you still love me. They still love me.'' Even if I was a sinner or something, I felt that way. ”
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“I could have just walked in and said, 'No, this is going to be terrible. Let's go,'” Ferrell said. “I felt regret and guilt even going there.”
Mr. Steele had previously criticized the New York Times in an interview. independent person “Left-leaning overall, but sometimes very anti-trans. It's weird…”
Will Ferrell and Harper Steele attend Will & Harper NY Special Screening at Paris Theater on September 24, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Roy Rochlin/Getty Images for Netflix)
“That's why I tend to ask the reporters I interview first if they believe me,” Steele added in the interview. “Do they believe I exist? Do they believe I'm legitimate? Because that's not always part of the conversation. I like to start there. Because the liberal community has , because there are a lot of people who just can't seem to get it,'' for whatever reason. ”
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Ferrell also said that “transphobia” stems from people's “lack of confidence” in themselves.
“There is hatred out there,” Mr Ferrell told The Independent. “This is very real and in certain situations very dangerous for transgender people.”
“That's so weird to me because Harper is finally…a girlfriend,” he added. “She finally became who she was meant to be, and whether or not she could wrap her head around it in the end, why should she care that someone else is happy? Why is it a threat to you? If the trans community is a threat to you, I think it comes from a lack of confidence or safety in yourself. ”
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FOX News' Lindsay Cornick contributed to this report.
