Sia Apologises To Autism Community For Her Golden Globe Nominated Film

Sia: Australian pop star Sia apologised for casting a neurotypical actor as a nonverbal autistic girl in her film Music.

She extended her apology for including scenes depicting the use of restraints on autistic people. 

The movie is the singer's directorial debut. But it was faced with controversy on Wednesday after it got nominated for two Golden Globes awards.

It fetched harsh criticism after dancer Maddie Zeigler was cast in an autistic role in the film. The restraint scenes from the movie also were discouraged

However, Sia has now informed that a restraint warning would be added to the film's start. 

In fact, she had addressed the whole event on Twitter before deleting her account. She wrote in one of her tweets," I promise, have been listening. The motion picture Music will, moving forward, have this warning at the head of the movie."

She further said that all the restraint scenes would be removed from the film in future printings. Taking responsibility, she said, "I listened to the wrong people" and "my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough." 

In another tweet, she added, "Music in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists that specialise in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help w meltdown safety."

After the series of these tweets, the singer deleted her official account which had around 6 million followers.

Music

The film is written and directed by Sia. It stars Kate Hudson and Leslie Odom Jr in other leading roles. The movie was nominated in two categories including one for lead actor Hudson. The other nomination was for Best Picture in Musical or Comedy category. 

Later on Wednesday, actor Ruth Madeley expressed solidarity with the autism community with a message on Twitter.

To every #ActuallyAutistic person who is rightly devastated to see #Sia"s 'Music' nominated for a Golden Globe, I am with you. Disabled people are needed in the industry now more than ever to help change the narrative we're all so sick of. #endableism 💔

— Ruth Madeley (@ruth_madeley) February 3, 2021

In November a petition was filed to cancel the film. It gained more than 17,000 signatures.

However, Sia said in support of her film, " The movie is both a love letter to caregivers and to the autism community." The singer finally had to apologise after the criticisms rose higher this week.