Singer Hikaru Utada has taken to social media to try and learn more about a very hot topic, transgender actors and whether or not they should always play transgender roles.

This is in response to the fiery debate that started when it was announced that actress Scarlett Johansson would be playing a transgender man in the upcoming film “Rub and Tug”. The star was instantly met with harsh criticism on social media. 

As a result, Johansson backed out from the film which has set the entire project in limbo. The vitriol filled response to Johansson was also due to some of her past roles, she was heavily criticized for playing the lead in the 2017 live-action “Ghost In The Shell“.

News of Johansson backing out of “Rub and Tub” have started to make the news rounds in Japan, which promoted Utada to find some answers online. She began by asking that if saying it’s not okay for “straight” actors to play transgender roles, shouldn’t it be the other way around too?

She then admitted to not really having many people in her life to talk about issues like this, so she decided to ask on social media.

Which seems to have worked

Utada deciding to speak up and learn more about the issues surroundings transgender actor casting will no doubt create many discussions on the subject in Japan.