Arcade Fire respond to criticism of "We Exist" video from Against Me!'s Laura Jane Grace

Grace herself is a transgender woman, and Against Me!‘s most recent album,Transgender Dysphoria Blues, is about the very issues “We Exist” aims to shine a light on. “Dear @arcadefire , maybe when making a video for a song called “We Exist” you should get an actual “Trans” actor instead of Spider-Man?,” she originally tweeted.

Now, the Canadian band’s Win Butler has spoken with The Advocate on the matter:

“We were in Kingston [when the song was written], and we went to this kind of film event and met some gay Jamaican kids and just kind of talked to them and realized that they were constantly under the threat of violence. For me, I get kind of used to being in this sort of extremely liberal bubble—where we have Whole Foods and people are tolerant. And you can kind of trick yourself into thinking that the world is that way. For me, it was really eye-opening to hang out with these kids who, if they were going to dress differently or express who they were, there was this real tension.”

Butler added:

“Once something gets on the Internet, it works its way into people’s lives in a way that I think is pretty powerful. ... For a gay kid in Jamaica to see the actor who played Spider-Man in that role is pretty damn powerful, in my opinion.”

You can read the full interview with both Butler and the video’s director David Wilson here.

[via Pitchfork]