In one of the more pitiful displays of woke shaming and public penance, actor Ted Levine apologized to The Hollywood Reporter for his role as a gender-confused serial killer in the horror classic The Silence of the Lambs. "There are certain aspects of the movie that don't hold up too well," Levine said during the interview. "We all know more, and I'm a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate."
The sniveling continued, "[It's] just over time and having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture and the reality of the meaning of gender. It's unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it's f***ing wrong. And you can quote me on that."
If you recall, Levine’s character, Buffalo Bill, is a serial killer who stalks women and murders them to use their skins to make a “woman suit” for himself. In discussing his motivation for this, FBI agent Clarice Starling and imprisoned psychiatrist Hannibal Lecter, the possibility arises that Buffalo Bill is a transsexual. Starling disputes this, stating that “transsexuals are very passive.” Lecter agrees with her, stating that Buffalo Bill is not a real transsexual, but that “he thinks he is, he tries to be.” He then goes on to explain that Buffalo Bill's pathology is “a thousand times more savage and more terrifying” than that of a transsexual, and that this pathology was the result of years of systemic abuse during childhood.
To summarize, the two main characters are in full agreement that transsexuals are “very passive” and that the serial killer is definitely not a transsexual. And somehow this is vilifying trans folks?
You know what this sounds like? This sounds like a special group of special somebodies needs attention. This sounds like these special somebodies trying desperately to maintain their position at the time of the victim pyramid. So they lash out at a 30-second blurb in a 35-year-old movie that does nothing to denigrate transsexuals and try to link that to alleged negative stereotypes towards the transgender and gay community.
So, of course, Levine, finding his basket thoroughly bereft of lotion, folds like wet paper and apologizes. No doubt some sensitivity training is already on the docket. One wonders why Buffalo Bill spent all that time kidnapping and murdering women. If he were looking for ways to cease being a man, I’d say he just found a much easier method.
But if he wants to issue apologies based on The Silence of the Lambs movie stereotypes that we are now “a lot wiser” about, why stop there?
We are “a lot wiser” about psychiatrists. We now know that not all of them are cannibals.
We are “a lot wiser” about FBI agents. We now know they are not all “poor white trash.”
We are “a lot wiser” about police officers. We now know they are not all misogynist pigs who can’t handle working with a woman in a position of authority.
We are “a lot wiser” about Montana sheep farmers. We now know they don’t all send their nieces off to orphanages in a fit of pique.
So unless Levine is willing to atone for every one of the movie’s sins, his “apology” is nothing more than performative virtue signaling. It’s no different from the self-promoting “apology” Hank Azaria gave for doing the stereotypical Indian voice of Apu on The Simpsons¸ without atoning for the show’s stereotypical Kennedy voice for Mayor Quimby, the stereotypical Scottish voice for Groundskeeper Willie, the stereotypical black voice for Dr. Hibbert, or the stereotypical Austrian voice for McBain.
The Silence of the Lambs co-producer Edward Saxon also spoke with The Hollywood Reporter. He similarly expressed regret over the film, stating, “From my point of view, we weren't sensitive enough to the legacy of a lot of stereotypes and their ability to harm."
What “harm” might that be? What “harm” directly affected the transgender community due to the character Buffalo Bill from The Silence of the Lambs? Can you name a single member of the “trans community” who was subject to “harm?”
Maybe Levine could play the trans victim in the film adaptation of the true story of Snochia Moseley, a transgender man who was mocked and ridiculed starting the day The Silence of the Lambs hit the theaters.
Oh, wait, Snochia Moseley was a member of the “vilified” trans community who murdered three co-workers with a handgun before killing herself in 2018.
Hmm. Well, in that case, maybe he could act the part of Aiden Hale and how much “harm” Buffalo Bill’s mean stereotype caused her.
Oh, wait, Aiden Hale was a member of the “vilified” trans community who murdered six children and staff at the Covenant School in Nashville, specifically targeting them because they were Christian in 2023.
Oh geez. Well, in that case, maybe he could act the part of Robin Westman, whose life permanently took a turn for the worse since the moment Ted Levine danced in the mirror to "Goodbye Horses."
Oh, wait, Robin Westman was a member of the “vilified” trans community who murdered two grade school children and injured 29 more when he opened fire at the Annunciation School in Minneapolis in 2025.
Ugh. Well, in that case, maybe he could act the part of Jesse Van Rootselaar, another real-life victim of transgender stereotypes, who seems to fit perfectly the assertion of Agent Starling that transgender people are “very passive.”
Oh, wait, Jesse Van Rootselaar was a member of the “vilified” trans community who murdered his mother and 11-year-old half-brother before going to his school and murdering six more people, five of them children. Just last Tuesday.
Come on, man! In that case, maybe he could act the part of Robert Dorgan, no doubt still reeling from the horrible anti-trans insensitivity of the 1991 movie.
Oh, wait, Robert Dorgan was a member of the “vilified” trans community who murdered his ex-wife and his own son at a hockey game in Rhode Island. Just two days ago.
I suppose history will have to wait to provide us with a real-life “very passive” transperson for Levine to play, rather than the fictional, serial-killing non-transperson he regrets winning an Academy Award for. Certainly, the last seven days, which witnessed two mass shootings by trans people, aren't the best time to talk about their alleged victimhood.
In the meantime, he might want to get a grip, take a look at the world around him, and acquire a better understanding of who the actual victims are and who the actual aggressors are in the ideological hierarchy of American victimhood. This article is by no means meant to suggest that all trans people are violent. They aren’t. But the day a Christian shoots up a trans pride gathering is the day Levine and Co. can begin to lecture us about who is causing “harm” to whom.
Or if he can’t bring himself to sympathize with murdered children on account of their Christian faith, he could at least find common cause with those who got the surgery too early, realized it was a mistake, and re-transitioned later in life, only to be permanently disfigured, medically sterile, and socially ostracized by all the wonderful disciples of “acceptance” and “inclusion.”
Honestly, I doubt Levine has thought it through that far. His “apology” read like a copy/paste version of every other woke epiphany from every other celebrity about every other (insert cause here). It’s meant to deflect criticism and show craven submission. Don’t make eye contact with them on the train, or they’ll target you.
But there is real “harm” occurring out there, not by serial killers or movie stereotypes, but by cult members beholden to an extremist ideology that’s spread and enforced by social media. I don’t fault Levine for his cowardice, if that indeed is what is driving his misplaced apology. But it is his responsibility to face and overcome this cowardice; the eventual goal is to help those who actually are being unfairly vilified and unjustly harmed.
Because YOU DON’T KNOW WHAT PAIN IS, LADY!
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