Sia Apologizes To Autism Community After Golden Globe Nominations For Controversial Film Music
Sia has apologized to the autism community after her controversial film Music received two Golden Globe nominations yesterday. The Australian pop star’s directorial debut stars longtime collaborator Maddie Zigler as Music, a nonverbal autistic girl, and Kate Hudson as her sister and caretaker. The movie has been widely criticized for casting a neurotypical actor in the title role, and for its offensive and infantilizing portrayal of autism.
“I promise, have been listening,” Sia tweeted. “The motion picture Music will, moving forward, have this warning at the head of the movie … Music in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists that specialise in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help w meltdown safety.”
“I’m sorry,” Sia added. “I plan to remove the restraint scenes from all future printings. I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough.” Shortly after making the statement, the BBC reports, Sia deleted her Twitter account entirely.
Music was nominated for two Golden Globes on Wednesday, Best Motion Picture – Musical Or Comedy and Best Actress for Kate Hudson. Sia responded defensively when the film faced cricism in the past, at one point tweeting, “Grrrrrrrrrr. Fuckity fuck why don’t you watch my film before you judge it? FURY,” and suggesting that an autistic actress was “a bad actor.”