'A female tomboy, not a trans person': Kelly Kimberly Cheong on her Ah Girls Go Army character's name causing a stir

When she unveiled her look for her upcoming movie Ah Girls Go Army (AGGA), Kelly Kimberly Cheong, 27, did not expect netizens to go off about her character's name. 

Last Friday (Nov 12), Kelly posted a picture of herself decked out in an army uniform, posing in front of the AGGA lensing ceremony banner. The outfit she was wearing also showed her character's name — Amanda Man. 

While some netizens congratulated her on landing a role in the movie, others questioned the meaning behind "Amanda Man", saying it could be a potential jab at Kelly, who is transgender. 

Not a low blow

Speaking to AsiaOne last evening (Nov 16), Kelly clarified that there wasn't anything offensive behind her character's name. "My character is not a transgender person. It's a cisgender, biological girl," she said. 

"Initially, I found out that it was just Amanda, which is actually a very normal name. When I heard them say it, I heard it as Man (a Chinese surname pronounced as 'mahn'), I didn't think too much into it. But after some time, I did wonder, is it appropriate for my character to be named this?" 

Following netizens' comments on her Instagram post, which has since been removed, Kelly brought up the matter to AGGA's director Jack Neo. 

"He said that he didn't mean for this to happen. He explained that my character is a tomboy. Jack always tries to assign very iconic names to each character that represents their personality, and since my character is a tomboy, I guess they just put Man, [as a] play on masculinity. I don't think he came from the angle of trying to give me any low blow or anything." 

Jack told AsiaOne separately that Kelly's character in AGGA is "not a trans character", but a "female tomboy who is a bada**". 

"Kelly was cast specifically for this role for her fighting ability, not her gender identity. However, we understand that some people are not comfortable with the character's name, which had been interpreted as a reference to her trans identity. The character's name will be changed. We apologise for any distress we have caused." 

A lack of context 

Kelly, who is trained in Muay Thai and also dabbles in Krav Maga and grappling, is known for her TikTok videos where she shares self-defence and martial arts tips. To date, she has amassed 320,400 followers and total of 2.6 million likes on her videos.

Expounding on what could perhaps be the main issue that caused the kerfuffle, Kelly said: "I think the problem is that everybody thinks my character is transgender by default, just because I'm transgender. I think that itself is quite limiting, like, it's quite a narrow world view that I can only play a transgender character because I'm transgender. Isn't that kinda ironic?"

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Kelly added some of the online comments made her "quite sad", as some in the LGBTQ community called her a "traitor" for accepting a role with such a name. 

She felt the comments were made without understanding the context behind her character. She also joked she's not allowed to give away any spoilers as her managers would come after her. 

"I just want to put it out there that I didn't get chosen [for the role] because I'm a transgender character who's going to be the butt of any transphobic jokes. I got in because of my [martial arts] skills."

On a more personal note, Kelly shared that the negative comments affect her emotionally but she won't let it affect her performance in the movie. 

"Regardless of whether the comments are going to keep coming, when it's time for me to act, I will act properly — even when I'm feeling the emotional pain."

She added: "There's one thing that a lot of haters don't understand, is that their comments do affect me; it's just that I don't allow it to affect the way that I live and the way that I perform." 

claudiatan@asiaone.com