Leslye Headland Says The Acolyte Isn’t Gay After All

Television

It’s become a bit trite to say that the making of a piece of entertainment, or some real-life story surrounding it, is more entertaining than the art itself, but The Acolyte almost demands it, especially after showrunner Leslye Headland’s latest howler. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter about The Acolyte’s dismal audience score and the accompanying fan reaction (which must be fake, since the show is being review-bombed on Rotten Tomatoes, right?), Headland is puzzled by the term “lesbian space witches” because – I swear, I’m not making this up – she claims the witches aren’t lesbians. Or maybe they are a little, but not really. Or something; I doubt even Headland knows what she means at this point. But here’s the quote if you need a laugh:

“I was surprised by the question. Amandla and I just burst out laughing because that’s our knee-jerk reaction to being asked that, but to be honest, I don’t know what the term ‘gay’ means in that sense… I don’t believe that I’ve created queer, with a capital Q, content… They’re in a matriarchal society. As a gay woman, I knew it would read that their sexuality is queer, but there also aren’t any men in their community… So a closeness between the two of them would be natural. It seemed plot-driven… I would say it’s really reductive to call them lesbians. I think it means you’re not really paying attention to this story.

“I’m proud of being a gay woman who’s accomplished this feat, and certainly, if my content is called queer, I don’t want to disown whatever queerness is in the show. I would be proud to create something that inspired queer people… Honestly, I feel sad that people would think that if something were gay, that that would be bad… It makes me feel sad that a bunch of people on the internet would somehow dismantle what I consider to be the most important piece of art that I’ve ever made.”

What the hell is this word salad nonsense? The witches aren’t gay, although they may be gay because Headland is gay, but their society is just matriarchal, but the two mothers of the twins may have gotten together because there are no men around, but if people say it’s “queer,” then it is, but you’re hateful for not liking something because it’s gay, even though this isn’t gay, although maybe it is? This smacks of desperation, of Headland – and maybe Disney and Lucasfilm by extension – trying desperately to control the narrative around The Acolyte but, because it’s so widely disliked, having no idea how. They played the woman card and the gay card before the show even premiered as a preemptive strike, and since that clearly didn’t work, they’re disowning the gay angle while still trying to hang onto it a little, just in case.

We are happy to report that #TheAcolyte is “arguably the gayest #StarWars” yet. 🌈 Happy Pride Month! 😉 pic.twitter.com/3oJSykc4Kq

— TheWrap (@TheWrap) June 4, 2024

The desperation is clear because of how dishonest this is. We all saw that interview (above, if you haven’t) where Headland and star Amandla Stenberg (she of the burgeoning social justice rap career) declared The Acolyte gay, Star Wars gay, C-3PO and R2-D2 gay, and nerds gay. Now, Headland is spinning that as a nervous reaction that had no bearing on the show. Please, nobody buys this. Lucasfilm rolled the woke dice, came up snake eyes, and now they’re trying to save the hand. It’s funny, but it’s also heartening because it shows that, at least on some level, they don’t want their shows and movies to be failures. The rejection of The Acolyte is hurting them if they’d go to these pathetic lengths to save face. At the very least, they know that their current trajectory is not working for them, if only financially. I’m sure they feel good beating their identity politics drum, but it must be getting frustrating to know nobody else is listening.