Reneé Rapp isn’t the only Mean Girls star who’s claiming their character as part of the LGBTQIA+ community.
In an interview with GAY TIMES, Avantika says she considers Karen Shetty, a member of Regina George’s clique The Plastics, to be pansexual.
“If you tell me Karen is anything but pansexual, I have beef with you,” she laughs, before playfully hailing her character as “a pan queen!”
When we spoke to Rapp, the musician and The Sex Lives of College Girls star said Regina “absolutely is [queer]” and reminisced on when she came into conflict with a random user on Instagram about the legendary villain’s sexuality.
“Somebody was like, ‘She’s not a lesbian’ and I was like, ‘Alright, so maybe she isn’t to you but for me, she is, so shut up,” Rapp said, before defiantly telling those who claim Regina is straight: “Be mad. Go home. Touch grass. Play in traffic.”
According to Rapp, who identifies as bisexual, the new Mean Girls is queerer than the 2004 original as a result of its LGBTQIA+ cast, which also includes Auli’i Cravalho as Janis ‘Imi’ike and Jaquel Spivey as Damian Hubbard.
“If you’re putting really sick gay and queer people into a cast, it’s inherently going to be gay and very cool,” she explained, “which I think is really exciting.”
Avantika agrees with her co-star, saying the new film is “more gay and more camp” because it “embraces the fact that everyone is a little queer”: “It’s 2024 and the environment has changed a little.”
Mean Girls is based on the Broadway musical of the same name, which was inspired by the Lindsay Lohan and Rachel McAdams cult classic.
Additional cast members include Angourie Rice as Cady Heron, Christopher Briney as Aaron Samuels, Bebe Wood as Gretchen Weiners, Jenna Fischer as Ms. Heron, Busy Phillips as Mrs. George and Ashley Park as Madame Park.
Tina Fey, who wrote the 2004 original and stage musical, returns as Ms. Norbury, while Tim Meadows is also back as Principal Duvall.
Mean Girls is respectively released in US and UK cinemas on 12 and 19 January. Following its theatrical release, it will be available to stream on Paramount Plus.
You can watch our interview with the Mean Girls cast here or below.
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