While Sia herself launched a series of tweets to defend her casting choice, many social media users didn’t seem convinced by her reasoning.
Popular Australian singer and director Sia has ended up facing a severe backlash online due to a particular casting decision she made in a certain upcoming feature of hers. Earlier this week, Sia offered her social media audience a sneak peek of a new movie she wrote and directed, « Music », which is set to be released next year. The film’s cast includes Maddie Ziegler who, while not disabled herself, portrays a « teen with autism who conveys her feelings to the outside world through a tablet », as CNN points out, with the character apparently being based on Sia’s « neuroatypical friend » who found it too stressful being nonverbal. This casting choice, however, apparently did not sit well with quite a few netizens, who went on to give Sia a piece of their mind, with even the National Autistic Society joining the discussion. Please hire disabled actors when covering disability. This is a role that should have gone to a disabled actor.
