The 1991 film “The Silence of the Lambs” came out 35 years ago and has since become a cultural phenomenon, but it has come under fire for what critics claim is a negative portrayal of transgenderism. Now the team behind the Academy Award winner is expressing regret for causing hurt feelings.
The movie was best known for Anthony Hopkins’ drop-dead portrayal of flesh-eating anti-hero Dr. Hannibal “The Cannibal” Lecter, but just as creepy was the movie’s main villain, Buffalo Bill, who kidnapped women and imprisoned them in a basement pit, using their skins to make a woman suit.
Buffalo Bill was a transvestite back in the days when the lifestyle was still widely accepted to be a mental illness, years before the left-wing capture of the major institutions and the insistence that everybody must validate transgenders, a minuscule but disproportionately influential demographic.
Ted Levine, the actor who played the trans serial killer, recently told The Hollywood Reporter that the sexuality of the character didn’t bother him at the time, but times have changed.
(Video Credit: Amazon MGM Studios)
“There are certain aspects of the movie that don’t hold up too well,” he said. “We all know more, and I’m a lot wiser about transgender issues. There are some lines in that script and movie that are unfortunate.”
“It rubs the lotion on its skin, it does this whenever it’s told,” the character tauntingly tells one victim in the pit whose skin he covets. “It rubs the lotion on its skin, or else it gets the hose again.”
“[It’s] just over time and having gotten aware and worked with trans folks, and understanding a bit more about the culture and the reality of the meaning of gender,” Levine told the showbiz outlet. “It’s unfortunate that the film vilified that, and it’s f**king wrong. And you can quote me on that.”
“I didn’t play him as being gay or trans. I think he was just a f**ked-up heterosexual man. That’s what I was doing,” he added.
Edward Saxon, who was director Jonathan Demme’s producing partner for the acclaimed thriller, also marked the film’s 35th anniversary with The Hollywood Reporter, sharing his remorse about the memorable character.
“As we made the film, there was just no question in our minds that Buffalo Bill was a completely aberrant personality — that he wasn’t gay or trans. He was sick. To that extent, we missed it. From my point of view, we weren’t sensitive enough to the legacy of a lot of stereotypes and their ability to harm,” he said.
“There’s regret, but it didn’t come from any place of malice. It actually came from a place of seeing this guy. We all had dear friends and family who were gay. We thought it would just be very clear that Buffalo Bill adapts different things from society, from a place of an incredibly sick pathology,” Saxon added.
The groveling about the depiction of “Buffalo Bill” and negative transgender stereotypes got a thumbs down from X. users.
The Hollywood Reporter is like:
“It apologizes for a movie released 35 years ago or else it gets the hose again!” https://t.co/b6fWIz2CpE pic.twitter.com/1HofdaODtY
— Victor (@TheGoldenPlumes) February 15, 2026
‘Silence of the Lambs’ Team Reckons With Transphobia Criticism: “There’s Regret”
They made a phenomenal movie. Be quiet about it. This is why there will never be any great movies again. These woke idiots are too afraid to offend anybody.
— Pamela Hensley🇺🇸 (@PamelaHensley22) February 15, 2026
Leave it to the globohomo demons running Hollywood to double down on promoting every fucked up sexual depravity and gender goblinism while apologizing for the one time they got it right. https://t.co/tVkA04pk2X
— Rising serpent 🇺🇸 (@rising_serpent) February 16, 2026
OMG. They’re trying to ret-con the most honest portrayal of autogynephilia ever put to film. @Mace_WinJew @zbofanclt @HniReal @Devlz https://t.co/S3vXCWW2U7
— Bearded Miguel (@beardedmiguel) February 15, 2026
They’ve gone woke and have to bow the knee to insanity.
— Groucho not Marxist (@bobdirects) February 15, 2026
Is the argument here that the serial rapist,torturer and serial killer buffalo bill was a poor misunderstood person that society should have just let him be his authentic self??? WTAF is this???
— elenor candy (@elenor_candy) February 15, 2026
“Silence of the Lambs was literally about a trans serial killer who wanted to become a woman by wearing their skin …,” billionaire Tesla/SpaceX CEO and former DOGE boss Elon Musk wrote on X last month.
The Hollywood Reporter also couldn’t resist using the piece to take a shot at President Donald J. Trump, who has referenced Dr. Lecter in speeches and on social media.
“To compare people who are looking for a better life coming over the border to Hannibal Lecter is about as perverse as anything we were able to come up with in the film,” Saxon said. “It’s a fascination with power and an elevated sense of self. Our president is stuck in a period: the Village People, Hannibal Lecter. I don’t think he stays up late watching new movies.”
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