Business Insider columnist Daniella Greenbaum has resigned after the website pulled her column arguing that female actors like Scarlett Johansson should be allowed to portray trans men and women.
“That is the apparently controversial view that inspired BI to take down my piece,” said Greenbaum on Thursday in a tweet that tagged BI editor-in-chief Nicholas Carlson. “I have resigned from @businessinsider and explain why in my letter to EIC @nichcarlson”
She included that letter for people to see in her tweet.
I believe female actors can play men and trans men. That is the apparently controversial view that inspired BI to take down my piece. I have resigned from @businessinsider and explain why in my letter to EIC @nichcarlson pic.twitter.com/5G2UZggXi9
— Daniella Greenbaum Davis (@DGreenbaum) July 12, 2018
“Apparently, that radical view — that actors should be free to act — is beyond the pale of acceptable opinion,” Greenbaum said.
“Unfortunately, what happened with my piece — the tarring of a commonsensical view as somehow bigoted or not thought out; the capitulation on the part of those who are supposed to be the adults to the mob — is a pattern happening all over the country within institutions that pride themselves on open-mindedness and liberalism,” she added.
Carlson did not immediately respond to request for comment from TheWrap.
In her original column — which you can read here — Greenbaum insisted that people criticizing Scarlett Johansson for playing a transgender man in the upcoming film “Rub and Tug” were out of order.
“Scarlett Johansson is the latest target of the social-justice warrior mob. The actress is being chastised for, well, acting,” she wrote.”
“The job of an actor is to represent someone else. Johansson’s identity off the screen is irrelevant to the identities she plays on the screen. That’s what she’s paid for. And if she does her job, she’ll make everyone forget about the controversy in the first place.”
Within hours, Business Insider removed the piece and replaced it with a curt message that informed readers that the column was taken down because “upon further review, we decided it did not meet our editorial standards.”
In an email to employees after the article’s removal, Carlson said the company would institute new standards governing opinions pieces at the site which cover “culturally sensitive topics, such as marginalized communities, race, or LGTBQ+ issues.”
“Ultimately, it is the first editor’s responsibility to flag culturally sensitive stories,” said Carlson in the email which was first obtained by CNN.
“It may be hard to tell which are and which are not. The policy is to err on the safe side, even if it slows us down. We should be as careful about culturally sensitive pieces as we are legally sensitive pieces, and this policy reflects that.”