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Bella Ramsey responds to Jameela Jamil's nonbinary acting category suggestion

19 June 2023, 12:55

Bella Ramsey had to cut off almost all of her hair for The Last of Us

By Sam Prance

Bella Ramsey, who is nonbinary, thinks male and female categories should be open for nonbinary actors to submit in.

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Bella Ramsey has responded to Jameela Jamil's suggestions for award shows to introduce nonbinary categories going forward.

Yesterday (Jun 18), Jameela took to Instagram to question how awards shows, like the Oscars, can be more inclusive of nonbinary people while ensuring that women aren't shut out of winning awards. Historically, awards shows tend to give most awards in their genderless categories to cisgender men.

Jameela said: "Would it not be better to give nonbinary people their own category rather than completely shut the door for women given the known disproportionate amount of men vs women winning at awards shows?" She then argued that it's better to have more awards options going forward.

Now, The Last of Us star Bella Ramsey, who is nonbinary, has revealed why they disagree with Jameela at the moment.

Bella Ramsey responds to Jameela Jamil's nonbinary acting category suggestion. Picture: Kevin Mazur/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue, Phillip Faraone/Getty Images

Commenting on Jameela's post on Instagram, Bella wrote: "I feel weird about their being a whole new category. I think it's more about language... I would love the award categories to be "Actress/Non-Binary Performer" and "Actor/Non-Binary Performer" then the performer can be submitted into their preferred category."

They added: "It's not a perfect solution, but that's my take on it. I think it's more about making us feel seen and included rather than being categorised."

Bella also shared the comment to their stories and tagged the Academy Awards, the Emmys, the BAFTAs, the Golden Globes, the SAG Awards and the Critics' Choice Awards.

Bella Ramsey's Instagram story. Picture: @bellaramsey via Instagram

Speaking to Vanity Fair earlier this year, Bella said they felt "uncomfortable" when deciding which acting category to submit themselves in at the Emmys this year. They said: "The categories at the moment feel extremely gendered with the language around them."

Bella continued: "I don’t want the limitations in terms of the language in the categories to be a reason that nonbinary actors like me can’t be celebrated."