The Problem with Sia

[icecreamqueen 214]

Note: the opening post of this thread may be edited to include more information, as well as formating changes.

 

I was initially hesitant to post this, but after hearing some encouraging feedback from others I decided to give this thread a go. If the mods feel this thread belongs elsewhere, I will be happy to move it.

Sia Kate Isobelle Furler is an Australian singer and songwriter, best known for her hits Chandelier and Titanium and the iconic wig she dons to hide her face. Normally this is where I would go into more detail about her career, but this thread isn't really about that. This thread is about some of the potentially concerning behavior she expresses around a girl named Maddie Ziegler, and how it ties into the controversy surrounding her recent film Music.

 

Maddie Ziegler is a 17 year old dancer best known being on Lifetime's show Dance Moms, where she was the noticeable favorite of coach Abby Lee Miller. She has since spoken out about this, stating that she is glad to no longer be on the show anymore and that the pressure put on her was unhealthy for a child.

Maddie first began working with Sia at the age of 11, when she starred in the music video for Chandelier. Sia quickly felt a connection with her, and since then Maddie has been involved in nearly all of her musical projects to date, as well as playing a large role in her personal life.

In a 2015 interview with Stuff, Maddie's mother Melissa Ziegler-Gisoni shared that her daughter would have sleepovers at Sia's house and cuddle in her bed. In a 2019 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon (where Maddie wore Sia's bridal dress) Maddie stated that Sia was her godmother and "the greatest person in her life" and "basically her mom."

In an interview on the Zach Sang show in 2020, she said that she's discouraged her from accepting movie roles, stating that they were beneath her. She also stated that she felt a great love for Maddie and was grateful that Melissa "shared" her daughter with her.

Sia announced her directorial debut film starring Maddie Ziegler at the Venice Film Festival in 2015. Filming began in 2017, when Maddie was just 14 years old. 

 

In an interview with Variety, Sia revealed that Maddie was initially very uncomfortable with the role of a girl with autism and cried on the first day of filming, saying that she didn't want anyone to think she was making fun of them. Sia assured her that this wouldn't happen and encouraged her to continue with the film.

 

The film began receiving backlash for the portrayal of an autistic character by a non-autistic actress before it was even released. Sia defended the film, saying that she had done several years worth of research on the topic and had tried to cast an autistic actress but that she had found the role "too difficult." She also stated that she wanted to cast Maddie.

 

"I can’t do a project without her. I don’t want to. I wouldn’t make art if it didn’t include her.”

 

After scenes of the film were revealed to depict prone restraint as a means of subduing meltdowns, Sia issued an apology on Twitter shortly before deleting her account.

 

"I listened to the wrong people and that is my responsibility, my research was clearly not thorough enough, not wide enough."

 

Despite a Golden Globe nomination, Music has been criticized by many as an ableist and offensive film. There have also been accusations of brownface. I've made this thread as a place for discussion on Sia's controversies, as well as to shed a light on her behavior concerning Maddie Ziegler and people with autism.

 

But anyways, here's Toad singing Chandelier as a pallet cleanser for all that awful shit.

 

 

[Flowerbomb 65,594]

She also stated that she felt a great love for Maddie and was grateful that Melissa "shared" her daughter with her. - This right here is so weird like wtf? If someone said this about my child then I would be lowkey pissed and creeped out. Can't Sia pop out her own child? 

 

With that being said, I never liked Sia's voice/songs. Too grating. 

[Lentilus 25,720]

I mean, at the end of the day, none of us know the true meaning of relationships between people. I can't be a judge on Sia, Maddie/her mom. Whatever they got goin on, it seems to work for them. 

The whole autism situation. Ms, Sia was stupid af for that. We're living in cancel culture, you can't just do shit like that without the backlash. 

[evalionisameme 13,889]

I think it’s really cruel to insinuate that sia had a grooming esque relationship with maddie. Otherwise agreed, but think before you post-people’s lives can be detrimentally destroyed with accusations if picked up by Kpop Twitter.

[jvcx 3,644]

I've never really understood how her music got so much praise but I always found her artistic image and visuals pretentious to say the least. Also I've never thought much of her relationship with Maddie but the cuddling and other things you mentioned do make me uncomfortable. From what I've read it seems like there could be some kind of power relationship between the two. 

 

Also the film definitely deserves all the negative backlash.

[electra 20,644]

12 minutes ago, Bunny Mozart said:

She also stated that she felt a great love for Maddie and was grateful that Melissa "shared" her daughter with her. - This right here is so weird like wtf? If someone said this about my child then I would be lowkey pissed and creeped out. Can't Sia pop out her own child? 

 

With that being said, I never liked Sia's voice/songs. Too grating. 

 

sia is her godmother - your godparents are the people assigned to be responsible for your children if you pass. it's a very big responsibility and it must mean that she is incredibly close with the family. sia also has two of her own children, both adopted, so for me that suggests that she is entrusted to literally be Maddie's legal guardian if her parents pass. when i first heard it i thought it was weird too, but when i saw that in a twitter comment it kind of eased me a bit. i would like to believe from face value her relationship with maddie isn't malicious.

[Psychedelic Pussy 30,108]

I think the backlash to the movie is such an eye-roll. I mean sheesh I wish all gay characters were played by gay actors, I wish all trans characters were played by trans actors. But it’s just not realistic. They’re movies, they’re not real life. Honestly? End of story as far as I’m concerned, never gonna watch this film anyway lmao

[Escapism 5,998]

5 minutes ago, Pale Fire said:

I think the backlash to the movie is such an eye-roll. I mean sheesh I wish all gay characters were played by gay actors, I wish all trans characters were played by trans actors. But it’s just not realistic. They’re movies, they’re not real life. Honestly? End of story as far as I’m concerned, never gonna watch this film anyway lmao

Understandable. but I think the point is that there is already an underrepresentation of autistic characters along with autistic actors and combined with someone who isn’t autistic writing an autistic character based on research from a group that’s very demeaning towards autism. and a lot of it comes down to misrepresentation for a group of people who already face discriminations.
In comparison to say, jules from euphoria who is a trans character being played by a trans actress and while euphoria isnt written by a trans person hunter (jules’ actress) was able to give her own input based on her own experiences as a trans woman.

what im gettin at is proper (and more) representation is needed in both characters and the people who play them in cases like this which is only one of the many reasons why this film is so distasteful.

[wildstar 1,119]

Sia is the kindest person on earth stop this nonsense 

[wildstar 1,119]

Also like Maddie can walk away whenever she wants to and she always could. There is literally no problem here, it is very clear that they've each other. Also do you not realise Maddie has a whole life next to Sia?? Like Sia has BARELY any influence on who Maddie hangs out with and how she lives her life. This post is so stupid. AS for the movie, yeah that wasn't her best move, but go as far and say that it's ableist or dangerous is also kind of a reach. 

[Crimson and Clover 22,505]

2 hours ago, Pale Fire said:

I think the backlash to the movie is such an eye-roll. I mean sheesh I wish all gay characters were played by gay actors, I wish all trans characters were played by trans actors. But it’s just not realistic. They’re movies, they’re not real life. Honestly? End of story as far as I’m concerned, never gonna watch this film anyway lmao

 understandable but the fact that sia flat out telling an autistic person on twitter "maybe you’re just a bad actor" was in such bad taste  obviously i don't know the difficulties of casting and what not, but she/her pr team really should have seen this coming. i also think sia would've chosen maddie over any other more than capable actor because she has an obvious attachment to her, she's been the main character in Sia's works since like 2014. kinda weird but expected at this point

[drewby 9,246]

When the group of people your movie is supposed to represent rebuke it altogether, you've fucked up. End thread

[domandapiano 12,099]

It maybe wouldn’t be such an issue that the autistic character was played by a non autistic person if it wasn’t actually offensive as fuck. But it kind of is. Even just watch the trailer. I can’t imagine sitting through an entire movie of Maddie pantomiming a non verbal autistic person like that. It just feels wrong. And then there is the fact that she included archaic and WRONG methods of subduing an autistic person in the film and had the film instruct people to do these things. And then of course on top of all that the movie is supposed to be uninteresting and be written terribly. 
 

I am not at all for cancel culture, and I don’t think Sia should be cancelled but it absolutely is a poorly conceived, a poorly written, and offensive movie, and not in the *oh ur just too sensitive about this kind of stuff* way lol. 
 

I also have nothing against Maddie and I think she’s a lovely dancer and potentially a good actor too, but I’d just need to see her in something that isn’t this. I can’t comment and don’t care to comment on her relationship with sia. 
 

edit: removed an untrue statement from my post 

[wildstar 1,119]

1 minute ago, domandapiano said:

And then of course there is the fact that sia worked with autism speaks

 

She didn't.

2 minutes ago, domandapiano said:

And then of course on top of all that the movie is supposed to be uninteresting and be written terribly. 

 

I actually really liked it, it wasn't poorly written at all. 

[domandapiano 12,099]

8 minutes ago, Vulture said:

 

She didn't.

 

I actually really liked it, it wasn't poorly written at all. 

then I’ll have to fact check the first thing! 
 

the second... well, we shall have to agree to disagree on that. 
 

I guess the thing that’s baffling to me is that Sia thought this movie was a good idea, that investors thought this movie was a good idea, and that no one with power at any point was like “maybe we should change things up a bit here because this seems like it could be a problem”. That’s the rich, blind, elite for ya I guess. Thinking they are making a good, important film, and doing a service towards people with autism when in reality they are out of touch. 

[partymonster 4,722]

the way she claimed to have done extensive research but worked with autism speaks. you can find out with one search how problematic autism speaks is 

 

i personally find the sleepovers and cuddling stuff weird but that just must be me... 

 

edit: she didn’t work with autism speaks but they supported the movie in some kind of way? so yea, still bad.

[icecreamqueen 214]

4 minutes ago, partymonster said:

the way she claimed to have done extensive research but worked with autism speaks. you can find out with one search how problematic autism speaks is 

 

i personally find the sleepovers and cuddling stuff weird but that just must be me... 

 

edit: she didn’t work with autism speaks but they supported the movie in some kind of way? so yea, still bad.

my bad, I'll update the thread with more accurate information

[WaitForLife 5,238]

Y'all know Sia adopted a child right? Maybe Maddie was the reason why she wanted to be a mother.

[Sis 2,098]

Yes, canceled!

Btw, one of the girlies in this thread is a massive Sia stan irl. Y'all got her triggeredT. 

[Mer 61,778]

First two/three items are non-issues, to me. Children can be very close to ppl who are not their parents. Let’s not make that an ugly thing.