One of the key figures in the 1969 Stonewall riots that helped launch New York City’s gay rights movement makes an entrance in a newly released clip for Roland Emmerich’s Stonewall.
Otoja Abit portrays the charismatic black transgender activist Marsha P. Johnson, who is introduced in the clip as “the queen of queens” and “the only drag queen who’s nice” to a group of young misfits including streetwise Ray/Ramona (Jonny Beauchamp) and new kid in town Danny (Jeremy Irvine).
The P, by the way, stands for “Pay it no mind.”
The Stonewall clip comes in the wake of the film’s first trailer being criticized for “whitewashing” the story by focusing on a fictional white, cisgender male protagonist. Emmerich, the gay German director known for his action movies, defended the film on Facebook, pledging that “audiences will see that it deeply honors the real-life activists who were there — including Marsha P. Johnson, Sylvia Rivera, and Ray Castro.”
Stonewall will make its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sept. 18 and hit theaters Sept. 25. See the new clip, which contains brief NSFW language, below.
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