Sia Deletes Twitter Account Following ‘Music’ Movie Backlash From Autism Community
Sia deleted her Twitter account after her new film, Music, sparked backlash on social media.
On Thursday (February 4), fans discovered that the "Chandelier" hit-maker was no longer on the social media platform. Her absence backlash from the autism community, who were against Sia's casting of a neurotypical person, Maddie Ziegler, who portrays an autistic character in the film. The movie also features a scene where Ziegler's character is physically restrained, something that medical experts do not agree with.
There were so many negative comments that Music will now have a disclaimer at the beginning of the movie.
“I promise, have been listening. The motion picture Music will, moving forward, have this warning at the head of the movie,” Sia tweeted prior to her account's deactivation, according to Variety. “Music in no way condones or recommends the use of restraint on autistic people. There are autistic occupational therapists that specialize in sensory processing who can be consulted to explain safe ways to provide proprioceptive, deep-pressure feedback to help [with] meltdown safety.”
She also revealed that the restraint scene will be removed from future showings. “I plan to remove the restraint scenes from all future printings,” she added. “I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough.”
Surprisingly, Music earned two nominations at the 2021 Golden Globes. The film itself was nominated in the Best Picture Musical/Comedy category. Kate Hudson also picked up a nom for Best Actress for her role of Zu, Ziegler's character's half-sister and newly appointed guardian.
Music is set to release at select IMAX theaters February 10.