14 DAY TRIAL // The other day, Jared Leto made an appearance at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival to collect another award and promote his movie “Dallas Buyers Club,” which landed him an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role as Rayon.
His presence at a press event was marred by a heckler who tried to convey the message to him that, as a man, he had no right to play a transgender woman in the aforementioned film, The Wrap reports.
Eyewitnesses say that the heckler appeared to be a transgender woman, who started shouting at Leto, who by then had taken his seat on the panel on the stage, that “You don’t deserve an award! Trans misogyny does not deserve an award!”
Far from being annoyed by the situation, Jared asked the heckler to clarify her statement, to which she replied that “You’re a man! You shouldn’t play a transgendered role!”
The actor proceeded to inform the heckler that, by this logic, gay actors should never play straight men or, as he put it, “You’ve made sure that people who are gay, that the Rayons of this world should never be able to turn the tables.”
He then invited the heckler backstage to chat some more on the topic and get all their differences out of the way.
Above is a video of Leto as Rayon in “Dallas Buyers Club.” As of now, he’s considered favorite to walk home with the Oscar on March 2.