Laverne Cox Admitted She Had "Anger" Toward Dylan Mulvaney, And It's Very Honest

Two years after being accused of shading Dylan Mulvaney at the 2023 Grammy Awards, Laverne Cox is setting the record straight.

If you recall, the viral moment happened when Dylan walked up to Laverne on the red carpet to tell her how Laverne was on her vision board. Laverne said, "I was on your 2023 vision board. That’s lovely."

"It's insane that you're documenting so much of your life," Laverne added before encouraging Dylan — who gained fame with her "Days of Girlhood" series about her transition — to keep some things to herself. "Everything cannot be for the public," Laverne cautioned. "They love it, but everything cannot be for them."

At that point, Dylan interrupted Laverne, exclaiming that she had just received facial feminization surgery, which prompted Laverne to say, "I know, girl. We know! It's all over TikTok!"

Although she seemingly meant well, not everyone received it that way. Some accused Laverne of being shady toward Dylan. Dylan also faced criticism herself for interrupting Laverne, leading her to offer an apology.

And now, Laverne is sharing her side of the exchange. Sitting down with Dylan for a conversation with ELLE magazine, the Orange Is the New Black star broke her silence on the viral moment for the first time.

"Interestingly enough, I opened my Instagram this morning and saw a Black trans woman talking about you and me in the video when we met for the first time at the Grammys. And I don't know if we've really talked about that," Laverne began. "There was a lot of people making all kinds of speculations and reading into that video. I don't know what you saw on the internet about that."

Dylan agreed there was "so much" speculation, which couldn't have been more inaccurate. She clarified, "I left that interaction feeling nothing but love and supported and protected. It felt maternal for me. It felt like the beginning of a friendship, and an honest one, because a lot of people, especially in that environment... That was one of my first carpets ever, and I now see you aren't always getting people's most authentic selves."

Knowing that, she appreciated how candid and genuine Laverne was in that moment. "In that brief minute that we shared together, you went all the way there with me, because that's what I needed," Dylan said, "and we didn’t know when we would see each other again, and I felt really lucky. But then putting that out there, it was [met with] all these comments making assumptions about either you or me or us."

Laverne said she was especially surprised by comments accusing her of being shady and mean. "I remember I saw people saying that I was being shady to you, that I was being mean to you," Laverne recalled. "And I generally don't engage with that stuff, but it came up, and I was like, 'Huh.'" Unfortunately, that's one of the downsides to the internet — but it also made Dylan appreciate Laverne's initial advice "of having moments that are just for me" even more.

"I think that was a huge takeaway, not only from what you were saying to me, but how that was interpreted," Dylan shared. "Sometimes, when you have something special and you feel one way about it and then you put it out into the world, it becomes something else."

Elsewhere, the two discussed another controversy that Dylan faced that year — namely, the anti-trans backlash she received for her partnership with Bud Light. In addition to spewing hate and ridicule at Dylan, some conservatives called for a boycott of the famous beer brand, which then extended to Target and other retailers that had also supported the LGBTQ+ community.

Laverne recalled the "major cultural shift" at the time and how work dried up for her and other trans people for months. "Literally, that Pride Month...I was shooting Clean Slate at the time, and for me and for other trans people, brand Pride gigs dried up," Laverne shared. "Speaking gigs dried up for a lot of us. And what I have to say to you is that I had some moments of anger toward you. Part of me did."

"But, intellectually, I always knew that it wasn’t about you," she added. "You were the perfect person that they could use to scapegoat us, but they always will move on to someone else... If we look at the cultural environment now, this has been a coordinated effort from the right wing for many years. It wasn’t about you. And I hope you know that now."

"Yes. They needed a poster child," Dylan replied. "It was the perfect storm."

You can read the full conversation here.