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*When “Black Panther” was announced, fans were excited by the prospect of Okoye and Ayo, having a romantic relationship as Ayo and fellow female warrior Aneka do in the comics.
It was then reported that an early screening of the film featured “Walking Dead” star Danai Gurira’s (Okoye) having a flirtatious moment with Ayo as the two danced. But Marvel quickly denied the “lesbian love” conclusions drawn by those who watched the scene.
The LGBT community quickly fired off accusations of erasure.
A Marvel spokesperson said, “the nature of the relationship between Danai Gurira’s Okoye and Florence Kasumba’s Ayo in Black Panther is not a romantic one.”
This sparked a movement around the hashtag #LetAyoHaveAGirlfriend, similar to the #GiveCaptainAmericaABoyfriend campaign last May prompted by the release of Captain America: Civil War, per pinknews.com.
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Now, “Black Panther’s” screenwriter has opened up about the lesbian romance which was cut from the film.
He explained that presenting Ayo and Okoye as a lesbian couple was a possibility at one stage.
“I know that there were quite a few conversations around different things, different directions with different characters, and characters that we may have,” he said. “We thought: ‘Well, maybe we’ll work it this way with an arc or work it that way with an arc.”
But when pressed, he failed to even recall the clip that was cut.
“The scene you’re talking about, I don’t remember,” he said. “I can’t remember the exact exchange you’re talking about, but I think it was really brief. I’m not sure. I know that it was not – there wasn’t some major theme through that we were looking to explore with that in terms of the story.”
In a recent interview with Vulture, Florence Kasumba (who plays Ayo) addresses the issue. For the record, she is here for queer Ayo, but also had this to say:
“The thing is, if the makers would have wanted everyone to see the scene, it would have been in the movie. The final result that we’ve seen, there were a few scenes that have been cut. Different scenes, also. They didn’t make it into the movie for certain reasons, and at that point, I have to say: What their reason is, I can’t tell you, because nobody told me about whether it’s in or not.”
Briana Lawrence of The Glow Up writes:
“I’m gonna level with you, as someone who’s been squinting through heteronormative romance to try and find a whisper of queerness: Okoye and Ayo flirting with each other ain’t enough for me anymore. It’s the bare minimum of queer representation—the table scraps—especially if it’s two women, and especially if those two women are attractive.
Let’s be real: T’Challa and Nakia are getting whole-ass scenes that go beyond, “I looked at you, then you looked at me.” That’s what I want more of in my queer representation, especially considering the source material that people were referencing when discussing Okoye and Ayo: World of Wakanda.”
Lawrence also noted, “I think the forces behind this movie are capable of giving queer characters the respect they deserve. We’re not there yet, but I think we can be in the future.”
Do you agree?
What’s your take on LGBT representation in superhero films such as “Black Panther?”
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