Sia Comes Under Fire After Controversial Tweets And Working With Autism Speaks

When more information came out on what contributed to the upcoming film, Sia has been met with criticism about working with Autism Speaks.

When it comes to tackling sensitive subjects, people will do what they can to hire professionals to gain a better understanding and present the topic in a respectful and caring way. Sia’s music has been doing that with her one of her earliest songs “Breathe Me” and recently, “Elastic Heart.” This year, Sia has been heavily focusing on her directorial debut film, Music, which is planned for a 2021 release. When more information came out on what contributed to the upcoming film, Sia has been met with criticism about working with the controversial organization, Autism Speaks.

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The trailer that accompanied the film had Twitter users outraged with how there wasn’t a disabled person playing the role of the titular character, Music, who is instead played by longtime collaborator and dancer Maddie Ziegler.

There are Twitter users who raised their concerns in a respectful way, such as from @bronaghwaugh, who wrote in two tweets, “Hi Sia, can I ask why you didn’t cast a disabled actor for this part? It’s pretty offensive the way you’ve chosen to portray this character. People with disabilities are not broken and don’t need fixing. Many of my friends have different disabilities and they are some of the—Coolest, most talented, funny, kind, intelligent people I know. They are also the most under-represented and inaccurately represented group in our society. This kind of inaccurate, offensive representation causes so much pain.”

The Australian singer responded, “I agree. I’ve never referred to music as disabled. Special abilities is what I’ve always said, and casting someone at her level of functioning was cruel, not kind, so I made the executive decision that we would do our best to lovingly represent the community.” While this was one of Sia’s more gentle response, there were some that made her look into a disrespectful person.

Amy Mason asked, “Did you do any research or consult the community at all? It’s very condescending to say it would be cruel to consult a disabled actor.” What Sia said put her in hot water and sparked controversy, “Duh. I spent three f*cking years researching, I think that’s why I’m so f*cking bummed.” Some fans have defended her since she admits to dissecting the topic for a long time, one user, @your_goblin_mom, found a tweet from April that shows Sia promoting Autism Speaks for World Autism Awareness Day. Autism Speaks is known for not having any strong representation or any care for those on the spectrum, so it was definitely an appalling mistake on Sia’s end to rely on a controversial organization.

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Things would continue to spiral down for Sia, as @HelenAngel wrote to the singer, criticizing her for not considering hiring actors with Autism, “Several autistic actors, myself included, responded to these tweets. We all said we could have acted in it on short notice. These excuses are just that- excuses. The fact of the matter is zero effort was made to include anyone who is actually autistic.#NothingAboutUsWithoutUs.” Sia responded with a blunt and cruel, “Maybe you’re just a bad actor,” which really sparked anger amongst those that feel misrepresented.

After that tweet, fans called Sia out for being disrespectful, rude, and creating a problematic representation for disabled people. Sia might have a point to let viewers judge the film once it’s released, but with the information showcased on who she relied on for research, those with Autism or any other disorder have a right to express criticism.

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About The Author Marianne Penn (185 Articles Published)

Marianne is a freelance writer who graduated with a Bachelor’s degree in English. Along with working for TheThings, she has contributed to Valnet’s sister sites TheGamer and GameRant, as well as other sites including FanSided’s App Trigger and GAMURS group Gamepur. During her spare time, she loves going to the arcade to play rhythm games, play Nintendo games such as Fire Emblem and Pokémon, and catch up on manga and novels.

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