Sia Engages in Fiery Twitter Debate Over Coming Autism-Themed Film

Sia has not let accusations that she was “ableist” in the making of her upcoming movie, “Music,” go by without comment, and the pop star-turned-filmmaker spent the early hours of Friday tangling with disability activists who took issue with her on several points. Among the grievances she addressed, sometimes with palpable anger: her use of the term “special abilities” instead of “disabled” for people with autism; casting a non-autistic actor in the lead role of her directorial debut; and whether a person who is not autistic is exercising undue privilege in making a film centered on the subject.

Although “Music” isn’t due out till February, a trailer for the film released on Thursday stirred up dissent on Twitter, which Sia was quick to respond to in sometimes surprisingly blunt language.

“This is totally unacceptable and there are no excuses,” tweeted one user, Jordana Golbourn, a legit stage pro involved in community engagement in London. “You should know better than to allow able-bodied & neurotypical to represent the disabled community. It’s incredibly offensive as is the infantalisation of the character. Sickened. And not even captioned. Don’t release this.”

Responded Sia: “I actually tried working with a a beautiful young girl non-verbal on the spectrum and she found it unpleasant and stressful. So that’s why I cast Maddie,” she said, referring to her longtime collaborator, Maddie Ziegler (whose character is apparently not identified as autistic in the script but is generally understood to be on the non-verbal end of the spectrum). Elsewhere, she said, “Casting someone at (the character’s) level of functioning was cruel, not kind, so I made the executive decision that we would do our best to lovingly represent the community. … I did try. It felt more compassionate to use Maddie. That was my call.”

In an early moment in the back-and-forth, Sia wrote, “The movie is both a love letter to caregivers and to the autism community. I have my own unique view of the community, and felt it is underrepresented and compelled to make it. If that makes me a shit I’m a shit, but my intentions are awesome.”

While there were handfuls of users defending Sia by pointing out films from past decades that had legendary actors winning awards for their portrayals of the disabled, they were vastly outnumbered by those registering anger at her explanations of her choices, and Sia’s own ire came to the fore. “Grrrrrrrrrr,” she said at one point. “Fuckity fuck why don’t you watch my film before you judge it? FURY.”

Grrrrrrrrrr. Fuckity fuck why don’t you watch my film before you judge it? FURY.

— sia (@Sia) November 20, 2020

The singer-director went to great lengths to say that she had engaged the input of autistic people and their advocates throughout the process. In her final tweet (for now) Friday morning, she responded to a woman who asked, “Did you do any research or consult the community at all? It’s very condescending to say it would be cruel to consult a disabled actor.” Sia’s response: “Duh. I spent three fucking years researching, I think that’s why I’m so…