Sarah Jessica Parker has admitted that she was “shocked” to learn of fan backlash against And Just Like That character Che Diaz, played by Sara Ramirez.
Podcaster and stand-up comedian Che, a self-described “queer non-binary Mexican-Irish diva”, joined the Sex and the City spin-off in its first season, initially as a colleague for Parker’s character Carrie Bradshaw.
They later became a love interest for Cynthia Nixon’s Miranda, but viewers seemed to universally fail to warm to Che, with some claiming that the character was merely a stereotyped portrayal of a queer person.
The character has not returned for season three, after splitting up with Miranda in the season two finale.
In an interview with The Guardian, Parker, 60, revealed that she was puzzled when a friend mentioned viewer sentiments towards Che.
“A friend of mine brought it up to me, and it’s like: ‘What are you talking about?’” she said. ‘And he said: ‘Yeah, there’s all this conversation,’” she told the newspaper.
“I’ve been an actor for 50 years, and I’ve almost never paid attention to peripheral chatter,” she added before paying tribute to Ramirez as a colleague.
“I loved working with them,” she said.
Parker’s co-star Nixon, 59, previously discussed Ramirez’s departure in an interview with Variety, hailing Che as “controversial” but “amazing”.
“They created such an amazing character – such a controversial character, but such an amazing character,” she said.
“I think they felt, and Michael Patrick [King, Sex and the City creator] felt, that that character had run its course. They came in and shook everything up, and then the arc was completed.”
Parker, meanwhile, recently reminded fans that she doesn’t “come up with ideas” for the show after one scene from the season three opener, featuring Carrie having phone sex with on-off boyfriend Aidan, made viewers cringe.
“I didn’t want to, it’s in the script,” she said of the scene in an interview with Glamour. “I don’t come up with these ideas. None of this is my idea, I influence no stories, no writing, no lines, no sweeping big ideas about plot.”
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