If watching fashion models challenge standards of beauty and gender on the catwalk is your thing, Whoopi Goldberg has got you covered.
The View co-host and her One Hoe Productions are set to executive produce the transgender model-centered reality television show Strut, which got an official green-light from Oxygen on Monday. Stephanie Noonan Drachkovitch and Bobby Sizemore of 44 Blue Productions will also executive produce the new series.
“Strut follows a group of inspiring and resilient trailblazers who are working to change the modeling industry, and the world around them, by simply being true to themselves,” Rod Aissa, executive vice president of original programming and development at Oxygen Media, said in a statement. “These individuals will empower viewers as they live their lives fully and unapologetically, despite facing many obstacles throughout their journey.”
In a statement, Goldberg called the show an “important” series that “will give viewers a unique opportunity to spend time with real people who are struggling with the same challenges we all face as we make our way through the world.”
“You may even be surprised to discover that you have been seeing and interacting with transgender men and women in ways you didn’t even realize!” she added.
The new series comes in the midst of growing controversy over North Carolina’s HB2, newly enacted legislation that mandates that men and women use public restrooms that correspond with their biological sex.
NBCUniversal — parent company of NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment, of which the Oxygen network is a part — has been a trailblazer in bringing LBGT content to television watchers around the world, from hosting TV’s first lesbian wedding in a 1996 episode of Friends to other LGBT-focused series including Will and Grace and Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.
Goldberg has been busy lately; in addition to her regular hosting duties on the ABC daytime talk show, the comedian recently launched medical marijuana company “Whoopi and Maya,” which will manufacture and distribute products geared specifically toward relieving women’s menstrual discomfort.
Follow Jerome Hudson on Twitter @jeromeehudson
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