November 12, 2025 • 22 mins
In a mean spirited, social media post, actress and openly gay Ruby Rose points the finger directly at Sydney Sweeney for “ruining” Sweeney’s latest movie “Christy," a biopic about one of the most prominent figures in the history of boxing, Christy Martin. Martin was a closeted lesbian who survived a murder attempt by her husband, but went on to be inducted to the International Boxing Hall of Fame. Rose said Sweeney “paraded around pretending to be us” insinuating because Sweeney is a Republican and straight, she had no right to play the role of Christy, calling her a “cretin” who ruined the film. The critics and Christy Martin herself say otherwise.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:02):
Hey there, folks, it is Wednesday, November the twelfth, and
let me ask you something. Can a straight actor play
a gay character? Also? Can a Republican be supportive of
the LGBTQ plus community? Well? Why are we asking those questions?
Because Ruby Rose is asking those questions and she's directing
(00:25):
it fiercely at Sidney Sweeney. And with that, everybody, welcome
to this episode of Amy and TJ. This is a
some of the questions, I guess robes are just asked.
Some of those debates have been going on, but they've
taken on a new meaning, a new fierceness, because it
involves somebody who is one of the most popular and
(00:46):
polarizing people on the planet right now, at least in Hollywood,
and that's Sidney Sweeny.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That's Sidney Sweeney. And maybe you could even add Ruby
Rose to that as well on the other end of
the spectrum. But look, we've been talking about this this
morning because of but Ruby Rose put up on Instagram
talking about the movie Christy Sidney Sweeney. It plays the
lead role of Christy Martin, and that movie did not
(01:11):
do well over the weekend, and Ruby Rose took direct
aim at Sidney Sweeney and you actually were really hesitant
to even do this story.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Because it didn't come off fun initially as a as
a critique of the work. It seemed very personal and
she used and she doubled down and followed up, and
I mean throwing names at her, calling her names. That
part of it where you I hate to see people
like that go after each other. And Sidney Sweeney is
(01:44):
not going after her, I should say, but this looked
like and it sounded like sour apples and tabloid clickbait
that everybody in all the headlines you see Sidney Sweeney's name.
She's been called blank by this other acts. I just
didn't like that. But within it there is a more
relevant conversation has been going on in the country for years.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's right, and it is a question a lot of
folks ask. Look, you know, the whole concept of being
an actor means you take on roles that are unlike yourself.
They're trained to do this. This is part of what
acting is, being something doing something that you wouldn't do
as you but you're actually portraying another person. However, this goes,
(02:24):
and this has been a debate for years now. Can
a non blind actor play a blind role. How about
someone who doesn't have autism? How about someone who is
challenged in a different way? Can is it acceptable? Is
it offensive to try and take on the role of
someone who has a different life experience than you that
(02:45):
you couldn't possibly understand in the skin that you're wearing,
you could.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Play a role. I mean, those debates have been going on.
This is I guess it was the heart of some
of Ruby Rose's criticism of this movie. And again, Christy
Martin maybe not a household name, but she was a
pioneer when it comes to women's boxing. So Sidney Sweeney
did all the work. She put on thirty plus pounds
to play this role. And some folks say it's Oscar
bait whatever, but it didn't do good at the box office.
(03:11):
It actually did historically bad at the box office, making
one point three or so million on two thousand plus screens.
The folks who keep up with this will tell you
that is one of the worst openings for a movie
that was on that many screens. Okay, fine, So Ruby Rose,
an actress and who has been openly out lesbian for
(03:32):
years and years, she took issue with her having the
role and She's now wrote saying that the reason that
the movie didn't do well is directly directly attributable, in
her opinion, to her sexuality and her political leanings.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Right, and so, in fact, let's go ahead and read
what Ruby Rose wrote that is causing so much of
a stir. The original Christy Martin's script was incredible, life changing.
I was attached to play Cherry. Everyone had experience with
the core material. Most of us were actually gay. It's
part of why I stayed in acting. Losing roles happens
(04:10):
all the time. For her pr to talk about it,
flopping and saying SS did it for the people. None
of the people want to see someone who hates them
parading around pretending to be us. You're a Cretan and
you ruined the film period. Christy deserved better.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Now some of that within there. As a woman who
has been very outspoken in terms of LGBTQ plus rights
in the community, I could see why she might be
upset and offended, especially as an actress who knows more
about that industry and how she's viewed in roles and
what she's experienced behind the scenes. That part, I can
(04:54):
get the Cretan part, and calling her names, and then
she doubled down and came back and called her a psychopath.
Those things, I guess take away from the message and
the messenge juror when it seems so personal and mean.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It absolutely was mean and unnecessary, I think is a
huge part of it. And perhaps I would even say
most people completely disagree with what Ruby Rose wrote there
in terms of Sidney Sweeney ruining the movie. In fact,
Christy Martin herself has been extremely supportive. We can get
into that. And even among the reviewers who were kind
(05:27):
of met on the film, and it wasn't poorly reviewed
it was it was, It had decent reviews. But I
would say I have not read to date any actual
critic saying anything about Sidney Sweeney's performance other than it
was brilliant.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
That's all fine. I completely respect Ruby Rose's opinion of
how Sidney Sweeney performed in this movie if she gave
it to me in some kind of context that I
know she knows better than I do. She is an actress,
She's been in movie, she's been in show, so she
can give me an assessment of Sidney Sweeney and her
performance in there better than I can do myself. But
(06:07):
she didn't. She just said she ruined it. She's terrible,
she's a Cretan and it just seemed very personal. But
she can have her opinion that part all respect if
she didn't like it, and also not respect that a
straight woman is playing this LGBTQ plus icon.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
By the way, I had to look up what the
word cretan meant. I didn't even know a lot of
people did apparently, and apparently it is a slur.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Stop there.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, it's considered able list it's a slur, and when
you look it up, it's not something that you're supposed
to say out loud or write down anywhere in terms
of modern decorum. That is considered a curse word of
bad word. And in one outlet they actually even and
this is what got me thinking, put stars like, if
you had someone drop the F bomb public putting it
(06:51):
in a publication, they would have to somehow, you know,
not actually spill out the word. They were doing that
with that word, which was interesting. So then yes, Rose
followed up saying, first, I regret writing that and should
have just said psychopaths. So then she, just as you mentioned,
doubled down on her insults towards Sidney Sweeney, So yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That part has to be mentioned. I don't think you've
seen anything where Sidney Sweeney directly responded to Ruby Rose,
but she responded to the fact that the movie didn't
do well and talked about we don't just do it
for money. We don't just do it for numbers. Sometimes
we do it for impact. That was the part that
set off Ruby Rose exact idea. Do you have Sidney
s I have her Instagram.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah it was, but I thought it was it was
with heart. So this is what Sweeney or Sidney Sweeney
put up on Instagram regarding the poor showing of Christy.
I am so deeply proud of this movie, Proud of
the film David made, proud of the story we told,
Proud to represent someone as strong and resilient as Christy Martin.
This experience has been one of the greatest honors of
(07:50):
my life. This film stands for survival, courage, and hope.
Through our campaigns, we've helped raise awareness for so many
affected by domestic violence. We all signed on to this
film with belief that Christie's story could save lives. Thank
you to everyone who saw, felt, and believed and will
believe in this story for years to come. If Christy
gave even one woman the courage to take her first
(08:11):
step towards safety, then we will have succeeded. So yes,
I'm proud. Why because we don't always just make art
for numbers. We make it for impact, and Christy has
been the most impactful project of my life. Thank you, Christy,
I love you.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I can believe that and take her at a word.
For the most part of it, I think a lot
of it looks very pr polished. You can say you
don't do it for numbers all day long, but the
company that put fifteen million dollars into this film is
not happy that. In me one point three they didn't
want to make money.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And they put it out in two thousand theaters, which
is a huge wide release.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yes, so some of that will read as pr dusting,
and that's fine to me. But I have to take
her at her word and believe that that, yes, this
is getting a story out. And look, Sidney Sweeney has
been the middle of controversy, but what sells controversy. See
now this movie is going to get a second or
third look and some attention. Thank you, Ruby Rose.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Keep talking shit, absolutely because I hadn't even heard of
this movie, and part of the reason why it didn't
do so well, according to a lot of folks who
have written articles on this, is that there just was
no promotion of it. There was one Billboard one shot,
and I hadn't even heard of this movie until Ruby
Rose brought it up. So yes to that, exactly, I
get that. But listen to the You know, we did
(09:30):
Critics Consensus every time we did our Horror Halloween deep cuts,
our countdown to Halloween. We had a bunch of movie
reviews on all of the horror movies we loved, and
we were going to Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes to
talk about what critics said of the movie. I thought
this was really interesting, the one that they wrote about Christy.
While Christy falters in tonal cohesion and emotional impact, it
(09:53):
remains a compelling showcase for Sidney Sweeney's transformative performance, grounding
a mythic genre and raw personal storytelling. It only got
sixty five percent among the critics, but look, this is
a crazy number. I don't think I've seen this before.
Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes ninety seven percent. The people
(10:15):
loved it who saw it just not that many.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Do you know how many were there?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
They were about fifty, okay, and they were all glowing.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Hey that's fine, Yes, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Even Variety Magazine said, Sydney Sweeney is already well on
her way to becoming a movie star. But this may
go down as the film in which she fully expresses
the soul of a movie star, which is this. She
completely becomes the character and in doing so becomes us.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
And again, people, this is that you have seen. I
don't know why Charlie's their own comes to mind.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
When the academy loves when you physically transform for a role.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Especially a beautiful woman known for her looks, this is.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Okay, so fine. You can call it oscar bait, you
can call it what it want, but you can. I
am not no, no matter what. I can imagine what
it feels like for a woman her size to have
to put on thirty five frickin' pounds.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
She talked about it. She because she said, I didn't
fit into any of my clothes. I'm usually a size
twenty three in jeans like she is thin, but I
was wearing a size twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
She wrote.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
My boobs got bigger. My butt got huge. It was crazy.
I was like, oh my god, but it was amazing.
I was so strong, like crazy strong. But yeah, she
said she had to eat weight train, kickbox weight train. Again.
This is all while acting, too, so this was a
physical transformation.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
We shouldn't have read that part. Everything was going so good.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So she said that her boobs got big. I thought
they were already. Oh they got bigger.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Sorry, it was bigger. And my waist went up to
a twenty seven. That's thin.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I've been a twenty seven for a lot of my life.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
We get it. That's fine. It just sounded kind of funny.
I'm not knocking her for that, but it sounded funny.
But yeah, she had to go through that, And yes,
you do just or of credit on top of doing
the acting. And look, I am now curious about this
movie because of all this controversy. But it does bring
up all those questions road as we talk about can
a straight person play a gay actor? Ken is that okay?
(12:15):
I think the industry is kind of getting away from that,
not making as big of a deal of it, or
keeping it a little quiet because people do get upset
about that. I don't know what the right thing is.
But it's an issue. You can't reverse it. You can't
say then a gay actor shouldn't play us straight.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
This is about marginalized community.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Can do it?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yes, this is about marginalized communities, and look I do.
It does seem that the trend has been for directors
casting directors to look for actors who actually live with
whatever that character might be experiencing. If it's you know,
it's a situation with a physical attribute or an emotional attribute.
(12:55):
They are trying to give people who are actors those roles,
those opportunities. I don't know what the right answer is.
You know, I am the last person who should probably
weigh in on whether that's correct or not. I do
think that this isn't going away.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Obviously a straight actor can do a fine, damn good
job is playing a gay character, and in fact, they
could maybe out act a gay actor in that saying role.
That's a matter of a skill set. Now I'm not
taking away. Yes, this gay actor is informed in life
(13:34):
in a way that the straight actor never will be.
But can we just say that automatically you're straight, so
you can't play this character.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I would tend to say that I think we should
be a little more open minded about these types of things.
And when we come back, we're going to talk about
what Christy Martin herself, the woman who this biopick was about,
had to say about Sidney Sweeney playing her role, what
she thought of her performance, Because shouldn't that be more
(14:03):
important than what Ruby Rose thinks. Continuing our conversation about
this brawl that Ruby Rose has brought out of the
ring and into the spotlight, talking about Sidney Sweeney, Sydney
(14:24):
Sweeney's portrayal of boxing legend Christy Martin, who is lesbian,
who was a survivor of domestic violence, and Ruby Rose
took issue with Sidney Sweeney playing that role, and not
just took issue with, but blamed her and her portrayal
for the reason why Christy did not do well at
(14:46):
the box office and did horribly actually like one of
the worst openings ever for a movie on two thousand
plus screens.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Oh but it's also a movie that didn't get a
whole lot of promotion. It's about domestic violence, it's about abuse,
and about a woman who's not a household name. Those
things could have attributed to exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
In fact, a lot of folks said if they just
had changed the name of the movie, perhaps because people
don't know Christy Martin's name, so to name a movie
Christy doesn't really draw people in.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
It should have been called Sidney Sweeney plays a Boxer
fled to the theater, right, all right?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So yes, we know that Ruby Rose had some scathing
things to say about and hurled at Sidney Sweeney. But
Christy Martin, who this film is all about, and had
a huge role in actually being a part of the film.
They promoted the film together and she applauded publicly Sidney
Sweeney's performance, and this is what she had to say.
(15:41):
I am actually very shy, very reserved, and want to
help everyone I possibly can. In the boxing world, I
wanted to knock everybody out. So I have those two
parts of my personality. And I think that's why Sidney
Sweeney is doing such an awesome job, because she got
to be this totally different person than none of you expected.
So how is that to add to the debate of
(16:03):
whether or not you can play a role that might
be completely opposite of who you are.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I think Christy Bardon is. I mean, she has every
incentive to be very complimentary. I'm sure, she was a
part of the process and was very excited to have
a star as big and beautiful as Sidney Sweeney playing her,
so that you expect a certain amount of that. But
it would have been very negative to hear Christy Martin
say I can't believe they chose this woman.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And actually Martin addressed the fact that Sidney Sweeney is
as gorgeous as she is. She said, she said that
Sidney Sweeney. She said, I wasn't the beautiful, sexy Sidney.
She was the tough, rugged Christy in this movie. And
I think that's awesome. So she was applauding the fact
that Sidney Sweeney basically took off her or I guess
(16:50):
was able to transform beyond being the beautiful bombshell that
she is and certainly has become to be known.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
As most women can transform and beyond the beautiful bombshelves
that they are. It's not hard.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Most people don't wake up like that.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I'm not taking away from Sidney SWAITI I'm just I'm
just saying.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, And look, Christy Martin, this I actually was looking
into her. I'd never heard of her to your point
before this movie, but just to see what she accomplished
in the fact that even perhaps this controversy beyond the
movie is bringing her into the spotlight. She was a
daughter of a coal miner. She went on to become
the first woman signed to a promotional contract by big
(17:32):
boxing promoter. We know his named Don King, and we know,
oh wow that you just see him when you hear
his name Don King, and the first female boxer to
appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I had no idea,
but she suffered from incredible bouts of domestic violence, and
so look, I know that the focus might have been
perhaps a little bit on the fact that she is
(17:53):
a out and she's a lesbian, but certainly this is
also about surviving domestic violence. You could argue, do you
have to know what that's like? Should should you be
a survivor of some kind to be able to portray
somebody who's gone through something like that. I just don't
know where it ends.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How do you feel about white actors playing in blackface?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
That's really funny, obviously, Obviously I don't even really need
to respond to that. That's a huge no, obviously, and
Tropic Thunder is still you. But no, honestly, you have
brought that up multiple times. What funny, it's funny? Why
is that funny?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Though, let me tell you why it's funny, because you
don't have a white actor playing a black character. The
character in Tropic Thunder was a white guy who put
himself in blackface so he could make a movie. So
it's not like he got in there to play. They're
actually playing on the fact of what we're talking about here.
(18:52):
They make a joke about it. In this movie. He
plays an actor that they give the role to because
it's for a black person, but they get it to
a white person who changed his face black. That is
actually I didn't put that together.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I get what you're saying, but they're making a parody
of the controversy.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
But if you have a movie, if you have I
don't know, Black Panther and they pick a Timothy Shallom
to do part four and they put him in blackface,
that's offensive because he's playing a character who is black.
Robert was totally different. It wasn't offensive in the least bit.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But still hearing Robert Downey Jr. Not just have the
black face, but then speak in a very over the
top stereotypical black vernacular that was hard for me. I
was watching you like, is this okay that I'm listening
to this and laughing at him?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Totally offensive and awful and uncomfortable. What did I tell you?
One of my favorite movies as a kid. It was
a movie called soul Man like white guy who couldn't
pay for Harvard so he did blackface so he could
get a minority skyt Okay. That movie was out. All
these things happened. Robert Downey Junior get a god damn
Oscar nomination for this movie, and Oscar for a white
(20:10):
guy who did such a good job of playing a
black man. That part was offensive. The Oscar part was
offensive because all of you all looked, Oh, yeah, he
is nailing being a black guy. That's not us. That's offensive.
I can get offended. I could be mad, I can yell,
and I can scream because of where I sit. That's
why I'm trying to give Ruby Rose just a little
(20:32):
grace and how she might be fired up. She might
have reacted out of emotion. She might come back and
say that was too much. I don't know, but genuinely upset.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I can see, yeah, exactly, and I look at the
end of the days It brings up a lot of
different conversations. And as long as they remain conversations and
they're thoughtful and they're productive, and people perhaps leave space
in their mind for a for a perspective other than
their own, that's wonderful. It's just when you use language
like she used, that's when things get offensive from her
(21:05):
end and actually don't move the needle, but just end
up getting people riled up, and then just playing to
the political right versus left, you know, and just drawing stereotypes.
It's what you would think someone who maybe has experienced
some of that hate and some of those feelings of
being lesbian and being open and all of those, you know,
(21:27):
certain issues that come up with that, you'd think she'd
be more sensitive to not generalizing other people and.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
The other We didn't talk about it as much, but
the whole part of her came out. She was a
Republican after the genes, the whole genes ad and she
brought that up as well. Can she's a Republican? What
was the line she used about playing one of us, Yes,
suggestion that you're hating what.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
She said, None of the people want to see someone
who hates them parading around pretending to be us. So anyway,
it's something to consider, something to talk about. Just hopefully
we can do that using language other than what Ruby
Rose used. So thank you for listening to us. We
appreciate you as always. I'm Amy Robock alongside TJ. Holmes.
(22:15):
We will talk to you soon
Hey there, folks, it is Wednesday, November the twelfth, and
let me ask you something. Can a straight actor play
a gay character? Also? Can a Republican be supportive of
the LGBTQ plus community? Well? Why are we asking those questions?
Because Ruby Rose is asking those questions and she's directing
(00:25):
it fiercely at Sidney Sweeney. And with that, everybody, welcome
to this episode of Amy and TJ. This is a
some of the questions, I guess robes are just asked.
Some of those debates have been going on, but they've
taken on a new meaning, a new fierceness, because it
involves somebody who is one of the most popular and
(00:46):
polarizing people on the planet right now, at least in Hollywood,
and that's Sidney Sweeny.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
That's Sidney Sweeney. And maybe you could even add Ruby
Rose to that as well on the other end of
the spectrum. But look, we've been talking about this this
morning because of but Ruby Rose put up on Instagram
talking about the movie Christy Sidney Sweeney. It plays the
lead role of Christy Martin, and that movie did not
(01:11):
do well over the weekend, and Ruby Rose took direct
aim at Sidney Sweeney and you actually were really hesitant
to even do this story.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
Because it didn't come off fun initially as a as
a critique of the work. It seemed very personal and
she used and she doubled down and followed up, and
I mean throwing names at her, calling her names. That
part of it where you I hate to see people
like that go after each other. And Sidney Sweeney is
(01:44):
not going after her, I should say, but this looked
like and it sounded like sour apples and tabloid clickbait
that everybody in all the headlines you see Sidney Sweeney's name.
She's been called blank by this other acts. I just
didn't like that. But within it there is a more
relevant conversation has been going on in the country for years.
Speaker 2 (02:01):
That's right, and it is a question a lot of
folks ask. Look, you know, the whole concept of being
an actor means you take on roles that are unlike yourself.
They're trained to do this. This is part of what
acting is, being something doing something that you wouldn't do
as you but you're actually portraying another person. However, this goes,
(02:24):
and this has been a debate for years now. Can
a non blind actor play a blind role. How about
someone who doesn't have autism? How about someone who is
challenged in a different way? Can is it acceptable? Is
it offensive to try and take on the role of
someone who has a different life experience than you that
(02:45):
you couldn't possibly understand in the skin that you're wearing,
you could.
Speaker 1 (02:49):
Play a role. I mean, those debates have been going on.
This is I guess it was the heart of some
of Ruby Rose's criticism of this movie. And again, Christy
Martin maybe not a household name, but she was a
pioneer when it comes to women's boxing. So Sidney Sweeney
did all the work. She put on thirty plus pounds
to play this role. And some folks say it's Oscar
bait whatever, but it didn't do good at the box office.
(03:11):
It actually did historically bad at the box office, making
one point three or so million on two thousand plus screens.
The folks who keep up with this will tell you
that is one of the worst openings for a movie
that was on that many screens. Okay, fine, So Ruby Rose,
an actress and who has been openly out lesbian for
(03:32):
years and years, she took issue with her having the
role and She's now wrote saying that the reason that
the movie didn't do well is directly directly attributable, in
her opinion, to her sexuality and her political leanings.
Speaker 2 (03:47):
Right, and so, in fact, let's go ahead and read
what Ruby Rose wrote that is causing so much of
a stir. The original Christy Martin's script was incredible, life changing.
I was attached to play Cherry. Everyone had experience with
the core material. Most of us were actually gay. It's
part of why I stayed in acting. Losing roles happens
(04:10):
all the time. For her pr to talk about it,
flopping and saying SS did it for the people. None
of the people want to see someone who hates them
parading around pretending to be us. You're a Cretan and
you ruined the film period. Christy deserved better.
Speaker 1 (04:31):
Now some of that within there. As a woman who
has been very outspoken in terms of LGBTQ plus rights
in the community, I could see why she might be
upset and offended, especially as an actress who knows more
about that industry and how she's viewed in roles and
what she's experienced behind the scenes. That part, I can
(04:54):
get the Cretan part, and calling her names, and then
she doubled down and came back and called her a psychopath.
Those things, I guess take away from the message and
the messenge juror when it seems so personal and mean.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
It absolutely was mean and unnecessary, I think is a
huge part of it. And perhaps I would even say
most people completely disagree with what Ruby Rose wrote there
in terms of Sidney Sweeney ruining the movie. In fact,
Christy Martin herself has been extremely supportive. We can get
into that. And even among the reviewers who were kind
(05:27):
of met on the film, and it wasn't poorly reviewed
it was it was, It had decent reviews. But I
would say I have not read to date any actual
critic saying anything about Sidney Sweeney's performance other than it
was brilliant.
Speaker 1 (05:44):
That's all fine. I completely respect Ruby Rose's opinion of
how Sidney Sweeney performed in this movie if she gave
it to me in some kind of context that I
know she knows better than I do. She is an actress,
She's been in movie, she's been in show, so she
can give me an assessment of Sidney Sweeney and her
performance in there better than I can do myself. But
(06:07):
she didn't. She just said she ruined it. She's terrible,
she's a Cretan and it just seemed very personal. But
she can have her opinion that part all respect if
she didn't like it, and also not respect that a
straight woman is playing this LGBTQ plus icon.
Speaker 2 (06:22):
By the way, I had to look up what the
word cretan meant. I didn't even know a lot of
people did apparently, and apparently it is a slur.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
Stop there.
Speaker 2 (06:31):
Yeah, it's considered able list it's a slur, and when
you look it up, it's not something that you're supposed
to say out loud or write down anywhere in terms
of modern decorum. That is considered a curse word of
bad word. And in one outlet they actually even and
this is what got me thinking, put stars like, if
you had someone drop the F bomb public putting it
(06:51):
in a publication, they would have to somehow, you know,
not actually spill out the word. They were doing that
with that word, which was interesting. So then yes, Rose
followed up saying, first, I regret writing that and should
have just said psychopaths. So then she, just as you mentioned,
doubled down on her insults towards Sidney Sweeney, So yeah.
Speaker 1 (07:09):
That part has to be mentioned. I don't think you've
seen anything where Sidney Sweeney directly responded to Ruby Rose,
but she responded to the fact that the movie didn't
do well and talked about we don't just do it
for money. We don't just do it for numbers. Sometimes
we do it for impact. That was the part that
set off Ruby Rose exact idea. Do you have Sidney
s I have her Instagram.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Yeah it was, but I thought it was it was
with heart. So this is what Sweeney or Sidney Sweeney
put up on Instagram regarding the poor showing of Christy.
I am so deeply proud of this movie, Proud of
the film David made, proud of the story we told,
Proud to represent someone as strong and resilient as Christy Martin.
This experience has been one of the greatest honors of
(07:50):
my life. This film stands for survival, courage, and hope.
Through our campaigns, we've helped raise awareness for so many
affected by domestic violence. We all signed on to this
film with belief that Christie's story could save lives. Thank
you to everyone who saw, felt, and believed and will
believe in this story for years to come. If Christy
gave even one woman the courage to take her first
(08:11):
step towards safety, then we will have succeeded. So yes,
I'm proud. Why because we don't always just make art
for numbers. We make it for impact, and Christy has
been the most impactful project of my life. Thank you, Christy,
I love you.
Speaker 1 (08:29):
I can believe that and take her at a word.
For the most part of it, I think a lot
of it looks very pr polished. You can say you
don't do it for numbers all day long, but the
company that put fifteen million dollars into this film is
not happy that. In me one point three they didn't
want to make money.
Speaker 2 (08:43):
And they put it out in two thousand theaters, which
is a huge wide release.
Speaker 1 (08:46):
Yes, so some of that will read as pr dusting,
and that's fine to me. But I have to take
her at her word and believe that that, yes, this
is getting a story out. And look, Sidney Sweeney has
been the middle of controversy, but what sells controversy. See
now this movie is going to get a second or
third look and some attention. Thank you, Ruby Rose.
Speaker 2 (09:09):
Keep talking shit, absolutely because I hadn't even heard of
this movie, and part of the reason why it didn't
do so well, according to a lot of folks who
have written articles on this, is that there just was
no promotion of it. There was one Billboard one shot,
and I hadn't even heard of this movie until Ruby
Rose brought it up. So yes to that, exactly, I
get that. But listen to the You know, we did
(09:30):
Critics Consensus every time we did our Horror Halloween deep cuts,
our countdown to Halloween. We had a bunch of movie
reviews on all of the horror movies we loved, and
we were going to Critics Consensus on Rotten Tomatoes to
talk about what critics said of the movie. I thought
this was really interesting, the one that they wrote about Christy.
While Christy falters in tonal cohesion and emotional impact, it
(09:53):
remains a compelling showcase for Sidney Sweeney's transformative performance, grounding
a mythic genre and raw personal storytelling. It only got
sixty five percent among the critics, but look, this is
a crazy number. I don't think I've seen this before.
Audience score on Rotten Tomatoes ninety seven percent. The people
(10:15):
loved it who saw it just not that many.
Speaker 1 (10:17):
Do you know how many were there?
Speaker 2 (10:18):
They were about fifty, okay, and they were all glowing.
Speaker 1 (10:22):
Hey that's fine, Yes, that's fine.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
Even Variety Magazine said, Sydney Sweeney is already well on
her way to becoming a movie star. But this may
go down as the film in which she fully expresses
the soul of a movie star, which is this. She
completely becomes the character and in doing so becomes us.
Speaker 1 (10:40):
And again, people, this is that you have seen. I
don't know why Charlie's their own comes to mind.
Speaker 2 (10:46):
Yep.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
When the academy loves when you physically transform for a role.
Speaker 2 (10:51):
Especially a beautiful woman known for her looks, this is.
Speaker 1 (10:54):
Okay, so fine. You can call it oscar bait, you
can call it what it want, but you can. I
am not no, no matter what. I can imagine what
it feels like for a woman her size to have
to put on thirty five frickin' pounds.
Speaker 2 (11:09):
She talked about it. She because she said, I didn't
fit into any of my clothes. I'm usually a size
twenty three in jeans like she is thin, but I
was wearing a size twenty seven.
Speaker 1 (11:19):
She wrote.
Speaker 2 (11:20):
My boobs got bigger. My butt got huge. It was crazy.
I was like, oh my god, but it was amazing.
I was so strong, like crazy strong. But yeah, she
said she had to eat weight train, kickbox weight train. Again.
This is all while acting, too, so this was a
physical transformation.
Speaker 1 (11:36):
We shouldn't have read that part. Everything was going so good.
Speaker 2 (11:40):
So she said that her boobs got big. I thought
they were already. Oh they got bigger.
Speaker 1 (11:45):
Sorry, it was bigger. And my waist went up to
a twenty seven. That's thin.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
I've been a twenty seven for a lot of my life.
Speaker 1 (11:53):
We get it. That's fine. It just sounded kind of funny.
I'm not knocking her for that, but it sounded funny.
But yeah, she had to go through that, And yes,
you do just or of credit on top of doing
the acting. And look, I am now curious about this
movie because of all this controversy. But it does bring
up all those questions road as we talk about can
a straight person play a gay actor? Ken is that okay?
(12:15):
I think the industry is kind of getting away from that,
not making as big of a deal of it, or
keeping it a little quiet because people do get upset
about that. I don't know what the right thing is.
But it's an issue. You can't reverse it. You can't
say then a gay actor shouldn't play us straight.
Speaker 2 (12:30):
This is about marginalized community.
Speaker 1 (12:32):
Can do it?
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Yes, this is about marginalized communities, and look I do.
It does seem that the trend has been for directors
casting directors to look for actors who actually live with
whatever that character might be experiencing. If it's you know,
it's a situation with a physical attribute or an emotional attribute.
(12:55):
They are trying to give people who are actors those roles,
those opportunities. I don't know what the right answer is.
You know, I am the last person who should probably
weigh in on whether that's correct or not. I do
think that this isn't going away.
Speaker 1 (13:13):
Obviously a straight actor can do a fine, damn good
job is playing a gay character, and in fact, they
could maybe out act a gay actor in that saying role.
That's a matter of a skill set. Now I'm not
taking away. Yes, this gay actor is informed in life
(13:34):
in a way that the straight actor never will be.
But can we just say that automatically you're straight, so
you can't play this character.
Speaker 2 (13:43):
I would tend to say that I think we should
be a little more open minded about these types of things.
And when we come back, we're going to talk about
what Christy Martin herself, the woman who this biopick was about,
had to say about Sidney Sweeney playing her role, what
she thought of her performance, Because shouldn't that be more
(14:03):
important than what Ruby Rose thinks. Continuing our conversation about
this brawl that Ruby Rose has brought out of the
ring and into the spotlight, talking about Sidney Sweeney, Sydney
(14:24):
Sweeney's portrayal of boxing legend Christy Martin, who is lesbian,
who was a survivor of domestic violence, and Ruby Rose
took issue with Sidney Sweeney playing that role, and not
just took issue with, but blamed her and her portrayal
for the reason why Christy did not do well at
(14:46):
the box office and did horribly actually like one of
the worst openings ever for a movie on two thousand
plus screens.
Speaker 1 (14:54):
Oh but it's also a movie that didn't get a
whole lot of promotion. It's about domestic violence, it's about abuse,
and about a woman who's not a household name. Those
things could have attributed to exactly.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
In fact, a lot of folks said if they just
had changed the name of the movie, perhaps because people
don't know Christy Martin's name, so to name a movie
Christy doesn't really draw people in.
Speaker 1 (15:13):
It should have been called Sidney Sweeney plays a Boxer
fled to the theater, right, all right?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
So yes, we know that Ruby Rose had some scathing
things to say about and hurled at Sidney Sweeney. But
Christy Martin, who this film is all about, and had
a huge role in actually being a part of the film.
They promoted the film together and she applauded publicly Sidney
Sweeney's performance, and this is what she had to say.
(15:41):
I am actually very shy, very reserved, and want to
help everyone I possibly can. In the boxing world, I
wanted to knock everybody out. So I have those two
parts of my personality. And I think that's why Sidney
Sweeney is doing such an awesome job, because she got
to be this totally different person than none of you expected.
So how is that to add to the debate of
(16:03):
whether or not you can play a role that might
be completely opposite of who you are.
Speaker 1 (16:09):
I think Christy Bardon is. I mean, she has every
incentive to be very complimentary. I'm sure, she was a
part of the process and was very excited to have
a star as big and beautiful as Sidney Sweeney playing her,
so that you expect a certain amount of that. But
it would have been very negative to hear Christy Martin
say I can't believe they chose this woman.
Speaker 2 (16:28):
And actually Martin addressed the fact that Sidney Sweeney is
as gorgeous as she is. She said, she said that
Sidney Sweeney. She said, I wasn't the beautiful, sexy Sidney.
She was the tough, rugged Christy in this movie. And
I think that's awesome. So she was applauding the fact
that Sidney Sweeney basically took off her or I guess
(16:50):
was able to transform beyond being the beautiful bombshell that
she is and certainly has become to be known.
Speaker 1 (16:57):
As most women can transform and beyond the beautiful bombshelves
that they are. It's not hard.
Speaker 2 (17:03):
Most people don't wake up like that.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
I'm not taking away from Sidney SWAITI I'm just I'm
just saying.
Speaker 2 (17:09):
Yes, And look, Christy Martin, this I actually was looking
into her. I'd never heard of her to your point
before this movie, but just to see what she accomplished
in the fact that even perhaps this controversy beyond the
movie is bringing her into the spotlight. She was a
daughter of a coal miner. She went on to become
the first woman signed to a promotional contract by big
(17:32):
boxing promoter. We know his named Don King, and we know,
oh wow that you just see him when you hear
his name Don King, and the first female boxer to
appear on the cover of Sports Illustrated. I had no idea,
but she suffered from incredible bouts of domestic violence, and
so look, I know that the focus might have been
perhaps a little bit on the fact that she is
(17:53):
a out and she's a lesbian, but certainly this is
also about surviving domestic violence. You could argue, do you
have to know what that's like? Should should you be
a survivor of some kind to be able to portray
somebody who's gone through something like that. I just don't
know where it ends.
Speaker 1 (18:09):
How do you feel about white actors playing in blackface?
Speaker 2 (18:12):
That's really funny, obviously, Obviously I don't even really need
to respond to that. That's a huge no, obviously, and
Tropic Thunder is still you. But no, honestly, you have
brought that up multiple times. What funny, it's funny? Why
is that funny?
Speaker 1 (18:30):
Though, let me tell you why it's funny, because you
don't have a white actor playing a black character. The
character in Tropic Thunder was a white guy who put
himself in blackface so he could make a movie. So
it's not like he got in there to play. They're
actually playing on the fact of what we're talking about here.
(18:52):
They make a joke about it. In this movie. He
plays an actor that they give the role to because
it's for a black person, but they get it to
a white person who changed his face black. That is
actually I didn't put that together.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
I get what you're saying, but they're making a parody
of the controversy.
Speaker 1 (19:10):
But if you have a movie, if you have I
don't know, Black Panther and they pick a Timothy Shallom
to do part four and they put him in blackface,
that's offensive because he's playing a character who is black.
Robert was totally different. It wasn't offensive in the least bit.
Speaker 2 (19:28):
But still hearing Robert Downey Jr. Not just have the
black face, but then speak in a very over the
top stereotypical black vernacular that was hard for me. I
was watching you like, is this okay that I'm listening
to this and laughing at him?
Speaker 1 (19:47):
Totally offensive and awful and uncomfortable. What did I tell you?
One of my favorite movies as a kid. It was
a movie called soul Man like white guy who couldn't
pay for Harvard so he did blackface so he could
get a minority skyt Okay. That movie was out. All
these things happened. Robert Downey Junior get a god damn
Oscar nomination for this movie, and Oscar for a white
(20:10):
guy who did such a good job of playing a
black man. That part was offensive. The Oscar part was
offensive because all of you all looked, Oh, yeah, he
is nailing being a black guy. That's not us. That's offensive.
I can get offended. I could be mad, I can yell,
and I can scream because of where I sit. That's
why I'm trying to give Ruby Rose just a little
(20:32):
grace and how she might be fired up. She might
have reacted out of emotion. She might come back and
say that was too much. I don't know, but genuinely upset.
Speaker 2 (20:41):
I can see, yeah, exactly, and I look at the
end of the days It brings up a lot of
different conversations. And as long as they remain conversations and
they're thoughtful and they're productive, and people perhaps leave space
in their mind for a for a perspective other than
their own, that's wonderful. It's just when you use language
like she used, that's when things get offensive from her
(21:05):
end and actually don't move the needle, but just end
up getting people riled up, and then just playing to
the political right versus left, you know, and just drawing stereotypes.
It's what you would think someone who maybe has experienced
some of that hate and some of those feelings of
being lesbian and being open and all of those, you know,
(21:27):
certain issues that come up with that, you'd think she'd
be more sensitive to not generalizing other people and.
Speaker 1 (21:36):
The other We didn't talk about it as much, but
the whole part of her came out. She was a
Republican after the genes, the whole genes ad and she
brought that up as well. Can she's a Republican? What
was the line she used about playing one of us, Yes,
suggestion that you're hating what.
Speaker 2 (21:53):
She said, None of the people want to see someone
who hates them parading around pretending to be us. So anyway,
it's something to consider, something to talk about. Just hopefully
we can do that using language other than what Ruby
Rose used. So thank you for listening to us. We
appreciate you as always. I'm Amy Robock alongside TJ. Holmes.
(22:15):
We will talk to you soon
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