One of the star’s of Netflix’s hit series, Tiger King, has said that he hopes being misgendered on the programme will raise awareness for the importance of pronouns in the LGBT+ community.
Kelci “Saff” Saffery, 34, identifies as male but was repeatedly referred to as “she” on the programme.
“I don’t think they intended to be cruel in any way, but dismissive or not, it still made a very, very loud statement about the way they feel about the (LGBT+) community,” Saffery told Reuters.
Saffery added that he wasn’t particularly “bothered” about being misgendered, but that doesn’t mean it’s something to be overlooked.
“These titles and these pronouns, they matter just as much as calling someone by the wrong name,” he continued.
“It’s something that you shouldn’t dismiss.”
The former zookeeper, who has three children, added that he has always used male pronouns.
“My children call me dad, they do not call me mum,” he said.
“I can’t remember a time when I knew [anything] different.”
Saffery, who was born female, recalled the moment he told his family that he wanted to identify as male.
“I just think it was obvious, what I wanted, the way I wanted to live and my family immediately supported that,” he said.
In the follow-up show to Tiger King, The Tiger King and I, host Joel McHale asked Saffery about being frequently misgendered.
“I don’t think it bothered me as much as it bothered everyone else. It didn’t really pay it any mind,” he said.
In the seven-part programme, which was watched by 64m households, Saffery’s arm is mauled by a tiger.
Speaking about the incident on The Tiger King and I, Saffery explained how he was able to return to work as a zookeeper within a week.
“I never stopped trusting the tiger,” he told McHale.
