Pedro Almodóvar slams 'lunatic' Trump, dedicates award to Hunter Schafer

Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar took a moment in a recent acceptance speech to slam President Donald J. Trump – and defend actor Hunter Schafer.

On Wednesday, April 30, Almodóvar accepted the Chaplin Award for Film at the Lincoln Center in New York.

“I admit that there have been moments when I have doubted about coming to accept [the Chaplin award],” said the director. “I have doubted if it was appropriate to come to a country ruled by a narcissistic, authoritarian lunatic who doesn’t respect human rights and who it seems nothing can stop on his race to change the fragile world balance."

The director's latest film, Strange Way of Life, is a queer western starring Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke as gay cowboys. He went on to speak about Schafer, who was in the audience.

"Hunter Schafer, the wonderful co-protagonist with Zendaya of Euphoria, is a woman even though she was assigned with the [marker] M for male while renewing her passport," said Almodóvar. "That cruel whim by Trump’s bureaucrats that there are only two genders does not change the nature of the human being and its sexual diversity."

He went on to dedicate his win to Schafer and all the immigrants deported by the Trump administration.

Considering the Trump administration's recent moves to deport politically outspoken immigrants without due process, and even denying entry to international visitors for their views or social media presences, Almodóvar's words are brave and powerful.

Earlier this year, Schafer shared her experience picking up her passport and was shocked to see "M" instead of "F" for her gender, the first time that's happened since her teenage years.

"On the first day of Trump's presidency, he signed an executive order to declare only two genders recognized by the state, male and female, assigned at birth," Schafer said in an 8-minute video. "As a result of this, the Bureau of Consular Affairs has frozen passport applications requesting gender marking changes or renewals" that defer from the applicant's gender assigned at birth.

"It's not just talk," she said. "This is real. And it's happening. No one, no matter their circumstance, no matter how wealthy or white or pretty or whatever, is excluded. This is real."

But resistance is always an option. "Trans people are beautiful. We are never going to stop existing. We are never going to stop being trans. A letter on a passport can't change that… and f*ck this administration."