Will Ferrell has told how he ‘regrets’ taking his transgender friend to a Texas steakhouse for their Netflix documentary.
The actor was on the road with fellow former SNL writer Harper Steele, as part of their film exploring Steele’s recent transition.
Despite receiving a generally warm reception during their trip, things took a turn when the duo stopped at The Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo.
Ferrell arrived dressed as Sherlock Holmes and the two quickly became the center of attention. But the crowd turned hostile when Steele got up and spoke about trans rights, the New York Times reports.
‘The saddest part for me is…I just feel…I feel like I let you down in that moment,’ a teary Ferrell said in the movie, likening the situation to being in a ‘fishbowl’.
Will Ferrell has told how he ‘regrets’ taking his transgender friend Harper Steele (pictured together at the table) to a Texas steakhouse for their Netflix documentary
‘The room started to feel very wrong to me,’ Steele added. ‘I was feeling a little like my transness was on display, I guess, and suddenly that sort of made me feel not great.’
The crowd had an even more terse reaction when Steele got up and made a political speech, something which was not shown in the ‘Will and Harper’ movie.
‘I’m from Iowa but I will raise a glass to your great state of Texas,’ Steele said. ‘I wish you guys would do more for trans rights in this state.’
‘It went dead, completely dead,’ Steele said. ‘That’s not how we would treat you up in Iowa.’
Ferrell then added, ‘Cheers to Texas and trans rights, right?’
Texas has some of the most conservative laws around transgender rights, including a ban on gender-affirming care for children, as well as rules forcing teens to use specific bathrooms and banning transgender girls playing on sporting teams which align with their gender.
Ferrell sported his Sherlock Holmes costume which only added to the frenzy surrounding them
Steele recalled how the crowd became hostile after he got up and made a speech about the need for greater trans rights in Texas
The actor was on the road with fellow former SNL performer Harper Steele as part of their film ‘Will and Harper’ which explores Steele’s recent transition
More recently the state has forbidden transgender Texans from updating their gender on their drivers’ license or birth certificate.
Ferrell explained that he and Steele stopped by the restaurant to take part in its 72oz steak challenge.
But the crowd’s reaction immediately let to Ferrell feeling remorse.
‘I mean, the vibes were so off because, to put it bluntly, there was a trans woman sitting,’ he explained.
‘I didn’t really have a grasp on how intense it was going to be and felt responsible for not properly vetting the situation we were putting ourselves in.
‘That felt like it was going to be this benign place where you eat a big steak in the amount of time, and then you walk in and it’s a thousand people seated in this room and I was like, ‘Oh, why are we here?’
Ferrell and Steele met on the set of SNL in the 1990s and quickly became friends
‘I wished I’d walked in and said: “No. This is going to be terrible. Let’s just go.” I was feeling that remorse and guilt of even going there.’
The negative response continued on social media, where the pair were flooded with hateful comments.
However, Steele did not appear to have regrets about making the documentary.
‘There’s a process of normalizing queer people for America, and this movie does that. It makes the trans experience more understandable,’ he said.
Ferrell and Steele met on the set of SNL in the 1990s and quickly became friends.
Steele went on to become head writer and in In 2020, the friends co-wrote Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga.
Steele came out as a trans woman in 2022 at the age of 61.
