Janelle Monáe Celebrates Inclusive Art for Reminding People 'Who We Are'

Janelle Monáe has been a force to be reckoned with for as long as she’s been in the public eye, but watching her embrace her queer, non-binary identity in recent years has been impactful in new ways — and she’s not done yet.

The singer and actor, who uses she/they pronouns, did not explicitly play queer in Netflix’s Glass Onion, although there was casual gay representation by way of detective Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) and his partner (played briefly by Hugh Grant). And Monáe recently spoke with The Hollywood Reporter about what that meant to them.

“I felt proud. It just felt normal and I love that,” she said.

Monáe further stressed that in a society where LGBTQ+ people are still coming under fire by politicians who want to strip away our rights, representation and visibility remain important.

“We’ve existed throughout history,” they said. “So my hope is that through art in general we can continue to show that representation and show the freeness and the love and the care in which we share our stories on screen and remind people of who we are and that we’re here to stay.”

The interview comes on the heels of Monáe accepting the seventh annual SeeHer Award at the Critics Choice Awards over the weekend, where she used her speech to call for empathy for those on “the margins of society.”

“I have always believed that through storytelling, we are able to shed light on the human experience, an experience that most people around this world won’t get an opportunity to see,” they said. “I kind of keep this glimmer of hope in my heart that when someone meets a character like the ones that I’ve had an opportunity to play, you’d be more empathetic to their experience.”