“Every character onInspector Gadgetis nonbinary,” Butcher says.
“Penny, Brain, Inspector Gadget, Dr. Claw, the cat… You know what I mean?
But I think that really speaks to the experience of ‘it’s inside the house.’
So then that story is coming into my house, so I see it that way.”
Gonzo, in particular, has had a profound effect on Butcher.
“Little blue alien, right?…
Gonzo exists outside even the binary of human or animal, the Muppets or whatever,” they say.
“For me, there’s something of being a weirdo, and that’s not a judgment.
It’s just like my experience of, ‘Oh, this is weird.
It’s strange and different.’
Nobody knows what Gonzo is, but they also don’t care.
I don’t need any more explanation.
Shoot them out of a cannon.
I’m into it.'
“I remember very specifically telling people that I was half-girl and half-boy when I was very young.
I had a stuffed animal.
My favorite stuffed animal was a little Simba.
And I remember, at one point, I decided that Simba was now going to be Nala.
And so I cut Simba’s hair, dressed Nala in a little doll outfit.
And I took her around and I was like, ‘Everybody, this is Nala now.'”
They continue, “You know kids, it’s like you have…
It’s all just hypothetical.
I was very interested in it.”
“I think so much of my nonbinary icons were these diva villains,” they say.
I didn’t have the language to understand that, but I felt this deep resonance… New episodes ofUntold Stories: Beyond the Binarydrop every Wednesday throughout Pride month.
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