Will Ferrell Confidently Denounces Transphobia

Will Ferrell, ahead of the release of a new Netflix documentary about his friendship with comedy writer and trans woman Harper Steele, has discussed why he thinks that transphobia exists in a statement that confidently denounces bigotry.

Will & Harper, set to release today on Netflix, follows the story of Ferrell and Steele’s friendship after the latter came out as a trans woman in 2022. Steele reached out to Ferrell and a number of other friends via email, asking them to support and stand up for her where possible.

However, Ferrell felt like he needed to learn more about the trans community, and the pair decided to take a road trip through America with filmmaker Josh Greenbaum, and the result is the critically acclaimed Will & Harper. 

Ahead of the film’s release, Ferrell, Steele and Greenbaum spoke to The Independent about the documentary, where the Step Brothers star was asked why he believed transphobia exists.

In response, he said: “There is hatred out there. It’s very real and it’s very unsafe for trans people in certain situations. But I don’t know why trans people are meant to be threatening to me as a cis male. I don’t know why Harper is threatening to me.”

“It’s so strange to me, because Harper is finally… her,” he continued. “She’s finally who she was always meant to be. Whether or not you can ultimately wrap your head around that, why would you care if somebody’s happy? Why is that threatening to you? If the trans community is a threat to you, I think it stems from not being confident or safe with yourself.”

“Why would you care if somebody’s happy? Why is that threatening you?”

Ferrell’s stance was praised widely online, with trans writer Zoë Rose Bryant saying that “It’s so important that someone like him is saying something like this… it’s truly the best surprise to see authentic support come from such an unlikely source.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Steele herself talked about the intent of the film. “We just wanted to address what it’s like for two people who are friends – what all this means to us, and to our friendship moving forward,” she said. “I needed him to see the joy I was experiencing. And I also wanted to demonstrate to my friend here that I was still funny. And probably funnier than him.” 

Director Josh Greenbaum also spoke about the impact of Ferrell’s involvement in a project like Will & Harper saying: “The fanbase he has crosses all spectrums, but it also has a very traditionally straight, cis-male, bro-y [element]. On some level, for sure, we want to reach that audience. But it was very important to me, and to Harper, that we were also representing the queer community.

Will & Harper releases on Netflix today.