EMILY PRESCOTT: Singer Sam Smith’s new ‘pronoun police’ leave video crew lost for words as he tells staff ‘we are working with LGBTQREW+ to provide a safe, queer-friendly set’
Pop star Sam Smith insists on being referred to as ‘they’ rather than ‘him’ in a drive for diversity and inclusion. But Sam’s attempts to make sure staff get the message has left them lost for words and fearing for their jobs.
Crew working on Sam’s latest music video are terrified of saying the wrong thing after the pop star hired a queer diversity supervisor to check their use of pronouns. The singer, 30, also provided cast and crew with a queer diversity on-set manifesto and information sheet ahead of filming for the project, called Pearl, at the Hackney Empire, East London.
An email told crew: ‘We are working with LGBTQREW+ to provide a safe, queer-friendly set.’
Pop star Sam Smith insists on being referred to as ‘they’ rather than ‘him’ in a drive for diversity and inclusion
Sam, 30, who enjoyed No 1 hits including Money On My Mind and Stay With Me, announced a change of pronoun use on Instagram three years ago, from ‘he’ to ‘they’
It continued: ‘Please take the time to read the manifesto attached and feel free to raise any issues or questions with our dedicated queer diversity supervisor, details of whom can be found on the call sheet.’
Sources close to the crew said some felt they were being policed too far.
One told The Mail on Sunday: ‘There are some of us who are scared of saying the wrong thing now. While we wouldn’t want people to feel uncomfortable, human errors and misunderstandings can happen.
‘What if someone gets someone’s pronoun wrong? Presumably they get reprimanded by the supervisor and could lose their jobs. There is a feeling Sam has gone too far.’ The move comes after crew on Sam’s previous music video were asked to reveal their preferred pronoun to each other before starting work.
Sam, 30, who enjoyed No 1 hits including Money On My Mind and Stay With Me, announced a change of pronoun use on Instagram three years ago, from ‘he’ to ‘they’.
The star wrote: ‘After a lifetime of being at war with my gender, I’ve decided to embrace myself for who I am, inside and out. I understand there will be many mistakes and mis-gendering but all I ask is you please please try.’
LGBTQREW+ refers to those who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer/questioning, asexual and many other terms such as non-binary and pansexual.
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