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College Scam Movie About Felicity Huffman Should Star a Trans Woman, Says Twitter

College Scam Movie About Felicity Huffman Should Star a Trans Woman, Says Twitter

Felicity Huffman

Huffman was charged with being part of an elite college entrance scheme, and Twitter began casting trans women to play her since she did transface for Transamerica.  

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Twitter exploded on Tuesday when news broke that Full House star Lori Loughlin and Oscar nominee and Emmy winner Felicity Huffman were charged with being part of a bribery scheme to get their daughters into college. Twitter users reacted with outrage at the audacity and privilege exhibited in the alleged scheme and also with a lot of humor. A few of Huffman's old tweets that didn't age well resurfaced and GIFS from her show Desperate Housewives began popping up. But one narrative that emerged after an enterprising Twitter user posted a March Madness-style bracket of women who could portray Huffman in the movie was that a trans woman should play her since Huffman was nominated for an Oscar for transface for 2005's Transamerica.

Huffman and Loughlin were among 50 people who were charged as a result of the criminal investigation dubbed "Operation Varsity Blues," which uncovered a scheme that federal prosecutors say involved paying off a college prep organization to take the test on behalf of the applicants or to correct the answers and bribing coaches to admit students into athletic programs, according to CNN.

Within hours of the news breaking, while Huffman was in jail on charges of felony conspiracy to commit mail fraud and honest services mail fraud, Twitter user Dilara Elbir posted the bracket dubbed "Felicity Huffman College Cheating Film." Actresses like Meryl Streep, Kate Winslet, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, and Saoirse Ronan (in old-age makeup) were on the bracket along with Huffman's Desperate Housewives costars Eva Longoria and Marcia Cross.

Eventually, another Twitter user suggested that a trans woman should play Huffman, which kicked off an entirely different thread about the age-old problem of cisgender people playing transgender people, although the casting of cis people in trans roles has received hard pushback in recent years.

"A trans woman should play Felicity Huffman imo," wrote reporter Katelyn Burns.

People began responding to Burns's call and suggested actresses including Trace Lysette and Candis Cayne, while also slamming Huffman and the film for the unflattering makeup used for her to play a trans woman. The tweets just became funnier and more pointed.

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Tracy E. Gilchrist

Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.
Tracy E. Gilchrist is the VP of Editorial and Special Projects at equalpride. A media veteran, she writes about the intersections of LGBTQ+ equality and pop culture. Previously, she was the editor-in-chief of The Advocate and the first feminism editor for the 55-year-old brand. In 2017, she launched the company's first podcast, The Advocates. She is an experienced broadcast interviewer, panel moderator, and public speaker who has delivered her talk, "Pandora's Box to Pose: Game-changing Visibility in Film and TV," at universities throughout the country.