Jennifer Coolidge reflects on her iconic ‘These gays they’re trying to murder me’ line
“Please! These gays, they're trying to murder me!”
Jennifer Coolidge has shared that she is absolutely “thrilled” that her The White Lotus character Tanya has become an icon.
Appearing on Variety’s ‘Actors on Actors’ series with The Bear’s Jeremy Allen White, Jennifer was asked about her thoughts on the meme-worthy quote.
In Mike White’s The White Lotus, Jennifer plays the bumbling Tanya who delivers the defining line: “Please! These gays, they’re trying to murder me!”
“Do you ever get that on the streets? Do people shout that at you?” Jeremy asked.
“Mike was very confident about Tanya being pursued by these seemingly friendly gays who seemed to be fans of her,” Jennifer also shared.
“Then Mike was like ‘you realise we don’t see the gay men as being evil, they’re not portrayed like that. I think people would like to see this.’”
“It did somehow strike a chord.”
Jennifer also noted the show’s queer representation was “not a typical thing.”
Then speaking about Tanya becoming a fan favourite, Jennifer expressed her surprise at the adoration.
Furthermore, Jennifer noted: “There was a whole group of gay men in New Orleans who went out on Mardi Gras as Tanya. They get the dress right, the scarf is better than the one I wore.”
“It’s happened in other cities. It did somehow strike a chord,” she also added. “I’m thrilled!”
Following the success of The White Lotus, the show won best limited/anthology series for its explosive second season.
Jennifer Coolidge was also awarded for her performance: she won best supporting actress at the Golden Globe for portraying Tanya.