We're a little more than a week away from Fox's Rocky Horror Picture Show, which drops October 21. That means we're just a week away from seeing Laverne Cox take over from Tim Curry as the iconic Dr. Frank-N-Furter.
And today, we get to hear that her rendition of "Sweet Transvestite" is near-perfect. The original is updated to include some really nice jazzy horns while Cox's delivery is dead-on.
Causing a bit of a stir, however, is the inclusion of the word "transvestite" in the song title. The word is now regarded by many queer people as a slur. Cox, who is certainly no stranger to activism, says that she and director Kenny Ortega made a joint decision to use the term out of faith to the original movie and show. Cox tells Vanity Fair that she doesn't condone the use of the word today, but that its use was a nod to the history of sexuality.
"Historically, the terms have changed [and] it doesn’t mean the same thing today that it meant in the '70s,” she says. “It’s not appropriate to refer to trans people as a transvestite [today], but it is [used here as] the character in that specific moment in history.”
We can't wait to see her in action. Listen below.
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