Che-llo & Goodbye
Sara Ramírez implies they were axed from 'And Just Like That…' How did we come to this?
To say that actor Sara Ramírez has had a complicated relationship with the character they play on TV, Che Diaz, is a Barbie worldwide box office-sized understatement. It’s not just complicated; it’s downright confusing.
“Sara Ramírez Is Not Che Diaz,” reads a February 2022 New York Times headline.
“Yep, I’m Che,” reads the headline of a June 2022 Variety profile of the Tony Award-winning actor.
Understandably, there’s been much chatter about how much Che, dubbed “the worst character on TV” by the Daily Beast, is similar or dissimilar to the actor that inhabits the role. It’s not uncommon. People ask me that about Jennifer Coolidge all of the time. (She’s nothing like Tanya.) When we first meet Che in the pilot of And Just Like That… they describe themselves (within their opening moment) as a “queer, non-binary Mexican-Irish diva representing everyone else outside of these two boring genders.” Ramírez, too, identifies as non-binary and was born to a Mexican father and a Mexican-Irish-American mother. But there are also dissimilarities: Diaz is a stand-up comedian and podcast host, while Ramírez is not. But one thing was made clear, both from creator Michael Patrick King and from Ramírez: Ramírez played an important role in helping to develop the character. “I’ve pitched ideas that have made it into the writing, which has felt really great,” they told W Mag shortly after the premiere of the first season.
Even after the backlash from Season 1 (which, to be fair, also birthed “In Defense of Che Diaz” thinkpieces), Ramírez appeared game to do it all over again in Season 2. "Che Diaz is such a beautiful reminder to me, to you, to all of us, that LGBTQIA+ people don't have to be perfect for us to respect their humanity,” they told EW. When I interviewed Michael Patrick King for a British Vogue profile ahead of Season 2, he was similarly nonplussed about the blowback. “[Some say], ‘Che’s coming back? They should have fixed that. That was a hat that shouldn’t have been worn again.’ I was like, ‘No, Che is coming back! How dare you.’ I love that they thought I was just going to throw it away, like that was a mistake, they’re not going to follow that train. Oh, I’m — boop boop [mimics motion of a train conductor] — I am ON that train.”
But a crack began to form back in August, hours before it was announced that And Just Like That… would return for a third season, when Ramírez responded to a profile written about them in The Cut in a now-deleted Instagram post. “I am not the fictional characters I have played, nor am I responsible for the things that are written for them to say,” Ramírez wrote. But as the story’s author, Brock Colyar, highlighted in the piece, “Ramírez’s Instagram bio describes themself as ‘abolicious’ and a ‘MexicanIrishNon-binaryHuman,’” which sounds vaguely similar to how Che introduces themselves as the series. In other words, doth they protest too much?
Ramírez then listed a number of what they call “friendly reminders,” which include mentioning that “I can love women (and I do), while not identifying as one” (something Colyar never called into question), “feminists come in all genders” (something, too, Colyar never called into question) and, most curiously, “When a cis man is in charge and has ultimate control of dialogue actors say, and you have a valid problem with it, perhaps you should be interviewing him.” As I wrote at the time, I couldn’t help but fixate my eyes on the operative “valid.”
That crack began to rupture on Tuesday. “Is Che Diaz No Longer???” Jezebel asked. Hours after I submitted the first draft of this story, the Daily Mail went live with an answer. “Sara Ramirez HAS officially been dropped from ‘And Just Like That…’ after creators decided their divisive character Che Diaz was 'a waste of airtime' and 'annoying' fans — NOT because of their stance on Palestine,” reads the headline. It’s hard to state conclusively — Daily Mail is a tabloid, lest we forget, and neither Max nor King have made any official statement — and perhaps purposefully so, but let’s examine the evidence, shall we?