Netflix’s ‘Tiger King’ portrays trans man as lesbian
Saff is presented and referred to as lesbian, but identifies and presents as male
Netflix’s true-crime docu-series Tiger King has taken the internet by storm, but the series reportedly erased the gender identity of one of its stars.
The show follows gay Oklahoma-based animal breeder Joe Exotic, who was ultimately jailed for attempting to have his rival, animal rights activist Carole Baskin, murdered.
Related: Tiger King’s Joe Exotic files $94 million lawsuit claiming he was targeted for being gay
Tiger King has already drawn criticism for failing to focus on the abuse of the animals that Exotic bred and displayed in his zoo. And now, LGBTQ Nation reports that Saff, one of the zoo’s employees, is presented as a lesbian female, but actually identifies as male.
Saff — who is shown in the series being mauled by one of the zoo’s tigers, resulting in the amputation of part of his left arm — is repeatedly deadnamed and identified with the wrong pronouns by those around him.
Author Robert Moor, whose podcast Joe Exotic: Tiger King offered a deep dive into Exotic’s story, noted the discrepancy in Saff’s depiction in a Twitter thread.
“Saff, the person who got mauled by the tiger, told me repeatedly that he is trans, prefers to be called Saff (not “Kelci”), and uses he/him pronouns,” Moor tweeted. “So please do likewise.”
He added in an earlier tweet that “news broadcasts at the time, and most of the people at the zoo, use the wrong pronouns for Saff. (Joe was particularly bad about this.)”
Related: ‘Tiger King’ review: A human menagerie of cons, crooks, and animal exploiters
Speaking to Esquire about the way his gender identity was depicted in Tiger King, Saff said, “I don’t care if they’re calling me she; I don’t care if they’re calling me he. On a daily basis, I am called 17 different things. I never really took it to heart.”
He said that during his time in the Army, “they always use last names. So, Saff was my preferred name. And I’ve always gone by him since I could say that out loud. My family was always very supportive — it was never an issue.”
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