Source: Chelsea Guglielmino / Getty
Small Doses host Amanda Seales welcomes multi-hyphenate media personality Ts Madison to the pod for a no-holds-barred dialogue covering trans rights and what it means to live out loud.
Madison has built her brand on being unapologetic, no-nonsense, loud and proud. She is making her mark on the culture whether it’s executive producing her own reality series The Ts Madison Experience, iconic TV and film appearances including RuPaul’s Drag Race and Zola, or being the voice proclaiming “I’m Blacker than Black” on Beyonce’s self-love anthem, Cozy.
“I used to get a lot of whoopings because I said everything I felt,” Madison said.
“The louder you live, the greater the burden and the target on your back, the women acknowledge. It’s a burden because “you can’t live any other way and be true to yourself,” Seales replied.
Despite owning her image as a larger-than-life media personality, Madison doesn’t hesitate to reflect on her words and actions. “I don’t think that I’m perfect, and I don’t think I’m above reproach, and there are things that I’m still learning,” she says. “I’m a person that always went back and checked myself. Sometimes like, ooh, shit, maybe I said too much, or maybe I said it the wrong way.”
Madison also advocates for her trans people, especially Black trans women, who so often receive the brunt of anti-trans bigotry and violence. She addresses a recent brush with trans model Lilah Gibney in which Madison called out Gibney for outing rapper Kevin Gates.
“Even though there are people that came at you for this that disagreed with you, I think ultimately your point of view is holistic,” Seales said. “It is not simply dogging her, but it’s considering how everybody factors into the big picture of this.”
Being in TV and media, Madison has witnessed anti-trans discrimination firsthand—but says it hurts more when it comes from the Black community.
“That stuff hurts when it comes from your people,” she said while discussing an encounter with an Access Hollywood correspondent on the GLAAD Media Awards red carpet. “You news media people that are Black, you news media people that are LGBTQ… that stuff hurts, because it’s not many of us walking down that carpet and how dare you take that moment to [diminish me].”
Despite navigating a world that is still systemically unfriendly to trans rights, Madison will continue what she’s been doing—being a voice for Black trans women and speaking her mind. Living loud.
“I’m comfortable in my skin,” she says. “I’m good. What likes me, likes me, and what don’t, don’t. And I’m alright with that.”
Listen to the full conversation with Ts Madison here.
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