Thank Goodness the ‘Holding Space’ Interviewer Doesn’t Get the Joke
On the ever-curdling internet, where misinformation reigns supreme and the general vibe is tragic, it’s important to enjoy things while you still can. Because, usually, the enjoyable gets annoying too — like the Hawk Tuah girl becoming a media darling. So it’s with joy that we can officially report that Tracy E. Gilchrist, the Out interviewer who introduced the concept of “holding space for the lyrics of ‘Defying Gravity’” to Cynthia Erivo and the world while doing a Wicked press junket, doesn’t really get what’s going on and has no plans to monetize it. “I’m a lot slower than the internet,” she told Variety in a November 25 interview about the meme. “Friends of mine were telling me to get a merch store up and running. I’m already seeing the T-shirts and the ball caps.” Overall, when she discusses the merch with her face on it that others have made, Gilchrist seems befuddled rather than offended by it.
Gilchrist, rather famously, works in “queer media,” so even if she does keep it going, it’s likely to be more in that mold than be clout chasing. “I had a podcast with the Advocate several years ago, so who knows? Maybe a little podcast.” There’s something comforting about the way this went down. On the meme side, it was a jubilant celebration of nonsense and, on Gilchrist’s side, it was a confusing but potentially emboldening viral moment.
“Of course, there are cynics and haters out there but I’m really just trying to not pay too much attention to that,” Gilchrist told Variety. “This was for us, for queer people who understand what I meant by holding space — or really, for anybody who feels marginalized and can relate. So it’s for us. It’s not for them.” Many of the cynics and haters were, in fact, queer people who did not understand, but she doesn’t need to know that. For once, the internet made a fun moment and nobody had their life ruined in the process. Good news!
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