And just like that, the ‘SATC’ reboot’s most divisive character was gone
When Mr. Big had his run-in with the peloton in the very first episode of the Sex and the City reboot, And Just Like That, a fair few fans wished it was another character that got the chop instead. One that proved to be particularly divisive was Che Diaz, a non-binary podcast host and comedian that attracted attention thanks to a heady mix of cringe-inducing dialogue and being what one viewer dubbed a “horrible and inconsiderate partner [sic]”. Luckily, Che Diaz is no longer. While we won’t see the character having a fatal accident on a piece of exercise equipment, they will, in short, not return to the fourth season of the reboot. At least that’s what’s implied in an Instagram post from Ramirez.
The post from January 16th read “Our industry is so duplicitous. While they give awards away, casting directors and agents are making blacklists of actors and workers who post anything in support of Palestinians in Gaza to ensure they will not work again”. Before signing off the post, Ramirez then appeared to take aim at her character on And Just Like That, saying “It’s wild how performative so many in Hollywood are. Even more performative than the last character I played”. Just a few hours later, The Daily Mail threw out the idea that Ramirez had been fired from the reboot because of their pro-Palestine beliefs. Then it was up to an “inside source” to confirm that Ramirez had been dropped for being “a waste of airtime”.
Why exactly did fans hate Ramirez’s character so much? When Ramirez herself spoke to The Cut in June of last year, they reckoned it was just because Che is a provocative presence in a show that – despite its liberal veneer – has time and again proved to be fairly conservative. Ahem, that episode where Samantha pursues a woman. “Anybody who benefits from patriarchy is going to have a problem with Che Diaz,” Ramirez said. There’s probably an element of truth to that. But the general consensus was that Che was so poorly written that they actually did the LGBTQ+ community a disservice. As well as treating their love interest Miranda Hobbes in a pervasively disrespectful manner, viewers were made to bear witness to Che doing painfully un-funny stand-up routines, hitting weed pen after weed pen, and “finger banging” Miranda in a small corner of Carrie’s kitchen. In regards to that in particular, someone went as far as saying it “unsettled [their] soul“. “Che Díaz single-handedly has pushed LGBTQ representation back to the 80’s” said another.
All things said, it is sad to see Che go. Not least because it probably is, in part, down to Ramirez’ comments on Palestine, but because by the end of season three of the reboot, Che was verging on alright. She had broken up Miranda and was *checks notes* working at a dog rescue centre.
Most of all, it’s not like Che is the sole cringy thing about And Just Like That. The entire reboot is performative. So much so that it feels like the four ladies were frozen when the original series ended only to be thawed in 2021 so we could watch them learn about everything non-binary and “woke” in real time. We can’t really discuss Che without raising an eyebrow at Charlotte’s daughter “Rock”, or when Miranda told her college professor that she chose the class specifically because she was Black… You know what? Bring Che back.
