Justin Theroux responds to ‘Zoolander 2’ Benedict Cumberbatch controversy

Shortly after the trailer for Ben Stiller’s Zoolander 2 hit the web, a petition calling for a boycott of the film because of Benedict Cumberbatch’s transgender character surfaced. Justin Theroux, who wrote the film, commented on the controversy Monday.

In the film, Cumberbatch has a cameo as a model named “All,” who has no eyebrows and is wearing long hair. The character is the “biggest model in the world” since All can model both men and women’s clothing. In the scene in the trailer, Zoolander (Stiller) is confused and Hansel (Owen Wilson) asks, “I think he means, ‘Do you have a hot dog or a bun?’”

After the trailer came out, Sarah Rose started a petition on ThePetitionSite.com, asking people to boycott the Paramount film. The petition currently has over 21,000 signatures.

In an interview with TheWrap, Theroux said that scene was taken out of context in the trailer and thought that the petitioners just didn’t get the satire.

“I don’t even know what to make of it, because it hurts my feelings in a way,” Theroux said. “I take great care in the jokes I write, and the umbrage being taken is out of the context of the scene. I wish people would see the movie first. Satire is a thing that points out the idiots, and we went through it on Tropic Thunder with the ‘R’ word.”

There, Theroux was referring to his script for Stiller’s 2008 comedy Tropic Thunder, which featured Robert Downey Jr.’s character using the word “retard.” At the time, the film drew a protest from groups advocating for the disabled.

“With social media and all the rest of it, people’s issues need to be heard … at the end of the day people are looking for bandwidth,” Theroux told TheWrap. “People are looking for places to inject their voice. But our target is not, and never was, to disenfranchise anyone.”

Zoolander 2 opens on Feb. 12.

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