If you’re always on TikTok, you’d have come across Kelly Kimberly Cheong at least once; she posts self-defence tips and talks about her life and philosophy on the platform.
@kkelzxSh*t Rorschach would probably approve. ##fyp ##foryoupage ##selfdefense ##martialarts♬ Pink Soldiers – 23
At the time of writing, she has 340.5k followers and 2.6 million likes on her TikTok account.
Just recently, Cheong landed a role on Jack Neo’s latest movie project, Ah Girls Go Army, which is a really good thing, right?
Right, except it was marred by the least expected thing: her character’s name.
“Amanda Man”
On 12 Nov 2021, Cheong posted a picture of herself wearing the SAF uniform, standing in front of the Ah Girls Go Army lensing ceremony poster.
As with any photos, tons of netizens took notice immediately and congratulations followed after.
There are some, however, who took offence with her character’s name on her behalf.
They felt that it was a jab at her transgender status.
The user who posted the particular story above accused the media of making transgender identities “a joke”, and making it seem like “transgender women are just men pretending to be women”.
Cheong, who spoke to AsiaOne, said she didn’t take much notice of the name at first.
She did wonder whether it was appropriate.
It was only after the comments that she decided to bring the issue up to Jack Neo.
A Tomboy Who’s A BadA*s
According to Jack Neo, the name wasn’t meant as a jab at her transgender status.
Her character is supposed to be a tomboy with mean fighting abilities, basically “a tomboy who’s a bada*s”, and the name was to reflect that.
Neo further explained that he cast Cheong for her fighting abilities, and said the character’s name will be changed.
“Kelly was cast specifically for this role for her fighting ability, not her gender identity.
“However, we understand that some people are not comfortable with the character’s name, which had been interpreted as a reference to her trans identity.
“The character’s name will be changed. We apologise for any distress we have caused.”
A Narrow Worldview
As for why she thinks the matter happened, Cheong attributed it to her transgender status, “ironically”.
“I think the problem is that everybody thinks my character is transgender by default, just because I’m transgender.
“I think that itself is quite limiting, like, it’s quite a narrow world view that I can only play a transgender character because I’m transgender. Isn’t that kinda ironic?”
She revealed that there are some in the LGBTQ community who called her a “traitor” for accepting the role.
However, while she is affected by the haters and negative comments, she is determined not to let it affect her acting.
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Feature Image: TikTok (kkelzx) / Instagram
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