This is award-winning actor Patricia Clarkson. You might know her from Six Feet Under, House of Cards, or Sharp Objects (for which she recently won this Golden Globe).
This is Dilara Elbir. She’s a 24-year-old film critic from Istanbul who’s based in Seattle. She’s also a big Patricia Clarkson fan.
Elbir told BuzzFeed News her fandom is in part due to the actor’s 1998 film High Art, in which she played a lesbian.
“Once you play a lesbian, lesbians embrace you forever,” Elbir told BuzzFeed News.
She also loves Clarkson’s good humor and talent.
But Elbir isn’t the only LGBT person obsessed with Clarkson. The actor has been something of a minor meme on Gay Twitter for a while now.
I audibly gasped when Patricia Clarkson appeared for the first time on #HouseOfCards, just in case you wanted to know how gay I am
patricia clarkson's out here feeding the gays i love her
That movie where Patricia Clarkson learns to drive, called LEARNING TO DRIVE, was a dog whistle to her gay fan base everywhere, letting us know she understands our plight
(You should know there’s also a meme that we gays can’t drive.)
The fandom really took off after Sharp Objects came out last year.
Ya know, before catching up on Sharp Objects tonight, I was ready to quit being gay but seeing Patricia Clarkson drift through a shadowy gothic country house in flowing pink eleganza whilst holding an amaretto sour really steered me back
Sharp Objects already feels like *the* show! Goth as hell. Love a sweaty smalltown nightmare. Amy Adams is peerless. The best. And Patricia Clarkson has the ghoulish menace down, from her hushed, cig charred voice to the clinking ice in her Amaretto Sours. Be still my gay heart.
Patricia Clarkson is THE gay icon of 2018
Some of the memes now involve sharing fake quotes from Clarkson in which she says outlandish things.
@elbirdilara ugh i love her
no comment
“I probably have around 30–40 memes of her with funny made-up quotes about gays on my phone,” Elbir said.
lesbians I'm feeling ok for the first time in 2-3 weeks we're getting this bread
Let’s be clear: Patricia Clarkson has actually said none of these things out loud (as far as we know), although she is a big supporter of the LGBT community.
Here’s a speech she gave in 2009 in support of LGBT rights at a Human Rights Campaign gala. (Watch just the first 10 seconds because it opens with her pirouetting to a Melissa Etheridge song — you can see why the gays love her.)
Anyway, after Clarkson won her Golden Globe for Sharp Objects on Jan. 6, Elbir posted this on Twitter, sharing some of her favorite made-up quotes.
Here are some of the memes she shared:
Time passed, and then Tuesday, Elbir was alerted to a new tweet from Clarkson’s actual publicists.
Elbir told BuzzFeed News she was actually working on a story about High Art when her phone lit up with the Twitter notification.
She said she was mortified.
“I’ve been on Twitter for 10 years and posted gay memes about actresses I had a crush on for ages and never got contacted by their PR,” she explained. “I was shocked because it’s so common on Twitter. And they took it so seriously.”
Elbir wrote about the exchange in a tweet that was subsequently shared hundreds of times.
I- sir it's a meme???
“It immediately turned into a joke amongst my friends because we never thought a legit PR firm would be so bothered by them,” she said. “It’s not as if anyone thought she actually said those things.”
Patricia Clarkson's PR agent after threatening people on twitter for posting Patricia Clarkson memes
“I kind of feel bad for them now because everyone is making fun of them,” she added. “They had to face the wrath of film and gay Twitter.”
@elbirdilara @valleydoll1967 It was really powerful when she said this.... I cried a little
(I encourage you to actually click on this photo to read the “quote” at the bottom.)
Elbir ultimately decided to delete the tweet rather than risk being reported for her memes, but responded to the publicists the only way she knew how.
@SRA_PR Rude but sure.
The PR team at Stan Rosenfield & Associates in Los Angeles didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment, but explained some of their thinking on Twitter.
@elbirdilara If you are familiar with Patricia Clarkson's seminal work in High Art, you would know she was a very early supporter of the LGBT community. If you understand the entertainment industry, you know it's quite literally the job of a publicity firm to get her voice out there.
@elbirdilara While it would have been fabulous if she said this quote, she simply did not. So now people can spew hatred at us on Twitter for pointing out she did not say a particular quote. It is our job to share her statements with the public. We are responsible for every interview you see.
Elbir said she was sympathetic to the plight of the publicists.
“Though obviously it was not my or anyone’s intention to act like she said those things or stain her image in anyway, I understand how the memes might be misunderstood by those who are not familiar with Twitter culture,” she said.
They also ultimately shared this touching exchange, which I guess shows the power of Patricia Clarkson in bringing people together.
Still, one fan had a final suggestion for Clarkson’s publicists.
@SRA_PR @elbirdilara Only 1 option now: u gotta make Patricia say all those quotes