Loot’s Michaela Jaé Rodriguez on being the voice of reason as a trans person: ‘It takes a lot’
Exclusive: "You should take up space when you need to take up space so that people can understand you," says the Loot star
Loot star Michaela Jaé Rodriguez has spoken about being the voice of reason in the real world in 2024 telling Attitude: “It takes a lot.”
The Pose star reprises her role as Sofia in the Apple TV+ series Loot, the second season of which premieres today (Wednesday 3 April). The show is led by Maya Rudolph and also stars Joel Kim Booster, Nat Faxon, and Adam Scott.
Speaking exclusively to Attitude ahead of the season’s debut, Rodriguez spoke about playing Sofia who is very often the voice of reason on the show. While her transness was never a point of discussion on the show, as an actor or as her character, she says when it comes to real life it’s different.
“When it comes to activism, I think it’s important to be the voice of reason. You should take up space when you need to take up space so that people can understand you and get a good understanding of who you are as a person before they get to know the title of you and you move forward from there.”
“There’s much more work we can do. And it starts with opportunities like Loot“
In the past, Rodriguez has spoken about not wanting to define Sofia as either a cis or trans woman. On how that moves representation forward Rodriguez told Attitude things are “moving.” She continued: “There’s much more work we can do. And it starts with opportunities like [Loot] You get into a space with a group of wonderfully diverse people who are not thinking about that, they’re just thinking about your talent and thinking how we’re going to be able to deliver.”
Rodriguez elaborated on this when discussing Loot‘s LGBTQ+ representation, which includes Fire Island‘s Booster. On having a show like Loot which includes LGBTQ+ characters but doesn’t focus on that aspect of them MJ said: “It’s wonderful, you don’t have to necessarily hold a title above someone’s head in order for them to be who they are. Even with Nicholas being a part of it and showing how it is to just be a normal person in the space and being an assistant and not solely being just the ‘gay assistant.’ That’s not what our goal is.
“There are so many multi-facest to us, we’re so much more than just one dimension as human beings, we have five dimensions to us. I think it’s great showing that through a television show. It’s not just about who the person is when it comes to LGBTQIA but what they’re capable of.”
Loot season two premieres globally with the first two episodes on Wednesday 3 April 2024. New episodes follow weekly on Wednesdays exclusively on Apple TV+.