Neil Gaiman Defends Sandman’s Non-Binary Casting
By Kayti Burt
Bigots will be bigots… but Neil Gaiman has a zero-tolerance policy for hatred. Here’s how he continues to stand up for marginalized voices..
In late May, Netflix announced 12 of the actors who will be bringing Neil Gaiman’s beloved The Sandman comic book series to the screen.
The cast includes Black actress Kirby Howell-Baptiste as Death...
… and non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park as Desire.
In the wake of the announcement, a vocal minority of racist, gender-policing internet-dwellers took to Twitter to decry their casting.
This despite the fact that both characters are part of a group of cosmic characters who are not human and change shape throughout the Sandman series.
Additionally, the character of Desire is explicitly depicted as non-binary in the source material.
Neil Gaiman, who is an executive producer on the Netflix series, took to Twitter to call out the prejudiced behavior.
Gaiman tweeted: “I give zero fucks about people who don’t understand/ haven’t read Sandman whining about a non-binary Desire or that Death isn’t white enough.”
Well said, sir.