On the front of Saturday's Style section, The Washington Post dropped a sugar bomb on trans activist/actress Laverne Cox as she stepped away from being a red-carpet interviewer for the E! network. The headline: "Laverne Cox elevated E! red carpet coverage. Now she’s signing off."
Janay Kingsberry, a Post writer focusing on “features with a gender and identity focus,” was too busy mourning these apparently glorious three years to wonder if Cox was canned, but allowed to make it sound like she quit. It began:
Since she first glided onto the red carpet as the new host of E!’s “Live From the Red Carpet” in 2022, Laverne Cox has been a mainstay of awards show season — charming stars and viewers at home with engaging questions and candid moments that have circulated social media.
Now, as the Golden Globes kick off the 2025 award season on Sunday, some fans were crushed to learn Cox won’t be there.
Kingsberry said Cox "replaced Ryan Seacrest and Giuliana Rancic, known for their fawning, occasionally tone-deaf, red-carpet coverage." This is bizarre, since Cox repeatedly fawned over nearly everyone in front of her. She routinely told interviewees she was "obsessed" with them. That was her drinking-bingo phrase. One would hope Cox would send her a check for this kind of gooey PR spin.
In my house, we have watched hours of Cox prattling on, and it seemed like a LGBTQ quota exercise. But the Post didn't allow an alternative viewpoint. It was somehow impressive that "Cox also found a way to skirt the overused 'who are you wearing' question with a more broadened and thoughtful 'what’s the story behind your look tonight?'"
Cox was especially fawning over fellow transgender actresses, but Kingsberry celebrated that as so intimate and relatable!
Cox last year shared an emotional embrace with Baby Reindeer star Nava Mau who became the first trans woman to be nominated for an Emmy for outstanding supporting actress in a limited or anthology series or film.
“I’m supposed to keep it together, I’m the host,” said Cox, who 10 years earlier, became the first trans woman to be nominated for a Primetime Emmy for Orange Is the New Black. The interview, widely shared on social media, highlighted Cox’s instincts for cultivating personal, intimate and relatable moments with her guests.
If you listened to this valentine, you would think Cox was a Barbara Walters of the award-show set:
As a veteran of both sides of the microphone, Cox was often lauded for her thoughtful and sensitive interviewing style, diving into the crafts, techniques and physical demands of acting — a stark contrast to the bold and often outrageous strategy of former red carpet icon, the late Joan Rivers.
At the end, Kingsberry insisted "Stars were just as likely to shower Cox in compliments as she was to fangirl over them. In her video montage, Anne Hathaway, Andrew Garfield and Tracee Ellis Ross are among the actors who approached Cox on the red carpet with adoration and glowing words." Adoration and glowing words just like The Washington Post articles.
It would be rude to wonder whether dumping the compliments on Cox might be more political than personal, a way for Hollywood stars to virtue-signal how super-supportive they were of the LGBTQ agenda.