"People hated us at first" - Cynthia Nixon opens up about getting hate for Sex and the City

Award-winning actress Cynthia Nixon recently got candid about what she and her co-stars encountered when the HBO American romantic comedy-drama series Sex and the City debuted in 1998.

At the 90th Annual Drama League Awards held on Friday, May 17, the actress reflected on the hate Sex and the City got when it first came out. The Emmy award-winning star, who played the Harvard-educated, red-haired lawyer Miranda Hobbes in the series, said to Page Six during the event:

“I feel like Sex and the City is now so enshrined in memory and sentimentality but people hated us at first.”

Nixon further added that they were criticized for their portrayal of the characters’ s*x lives. She stated:

“They keep saying over and over, ‘These aren’t really women, these are gay men in disguise. Women don’t talk like this. Women don’t talk about s*x like this.’”

Cynthia Nixon’s comments came after the backlash that the latest Sex and the City spinoff, And Just Like That has received after introducing a new cast member.

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“We keep pushing the boundaries” — Cynthia Nixon talks about the hate hurled towards SATC spinoff

In the same way that the Sex and the City was criticized, the actress wasn’t surprised that And Just Like That is getting the same heated discourse. The Tony winner explained that the reboot has continued the original show’s tradition of pushing the norms and boundaries.

Cynthia Nixon said at the event:

“I think that’s what’s so great about And Just Like That. We keep pushing the boundaries. We’re not going to do the same old stuff that was once shocking that you’ve now got used to.”

The spinoff series, which recently began filming its third season, has weathered its fair share of controversy. This was most notably around the new non-binary character introduced in its debut season, Che Diaz, played by Sara Ramirez.

Ramirez, who identifies as non-binary and uses the pronouns they/them, addressed the backlash in an interview with the New York Times in 2022. They said:

“I’m very aware of the hate that exists online. But I have to protect my own mental health and my own artistry.”

They further added:

“I’m really proud of the representation that we’ve created. We have built a character who is a human being, who is imperfect, who’s complex, who is not here to be liked, who’s not here for anybody’s approval. They’re here to be themselves.”

Ramirez’s character in the reboot was of a comedian who got entangled with Nixon’s role as Miranda Hobbes. Many fans roasted the characters and the show after Hobbes called it quits with her husband, Steve Brady, who was a favorite mainstay in the original series, to follow Diaz to California.

However, the And Just Like That couple had split in the second season and Ramirez will not be returning in the upcoming season 3.