LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: After HBO Max announced the third season of ‘Sex and The City’ spin-off ‘And Just Like That’ on Tuesday, August 22, Che Diaz’s character is receiving immense hatred from the audience.
While the return of the show is generally hailed, it appears Sara Ramirez's Che Diaz is not receiving the same warm welcome.
'AJLT' cast includes other popular ‘Sex and The City’ stars, including Sarah Jessica Parker, Cynthia Nixon, and Kristin Davis.
The only original cast member to not return was Kim Cattrall, who played Samantha Jones. Several side characters, including Che Diaz, have been introduced in the spinoff series since then.
Fans ask HBO to ditch Che Diaz
Che Diaz received an overall negative response from netizens, with several urging the streaming giant to write off the character.
"PLEASE NO CHE! We all thought she’s ruining the franchise! STOP it feels so fake! NO CHE!," a fan protested vehemently.
Another said, "Noooooooo Che noooo please!" Someone else quipped, "But can you get rid of Che PUHLEASE?!"
A fourth fan called for the comeback of Cattrall's character, writing, "More stories of the main characters and less of the secondaries that nobody cares! ? hoping for Samantha tho."
"YESSSSSS! And no more Che, please," said another.
A jubilant 'SATC' fan wrote, "Vamos!!!!!! ? Season 2 has been much better than season 1 (that was horrible..?). Please, this time with Samantha and without Che ??."
"Pls no che diaz," chimed in another. Echoing the sentiment, someone wrote, "Ditch Che. Please."
Che Diaz's character was not the only aspect the viewers criticized, as the showrunner Michael Patrick King too found himself at the receiving end of considerable wrath.
One fan said, "NOOO! I was hoping for an end of this nightmare. MPK and his writers created such a mess. It’s impossible to get out if it and reach the level of our beloved SATC."
Another slammed both MPK and the 'comedians' saying, "You need better writers and get rid of MPK. He thinks he knows it all. As a long term SATC fan, the writing and stories have been dreadful. Go back to basics. A small group of friends and their lives, not side characters for side characters. And no more ‘comedians’."
Why is Che Diaz from 'And Just Like That' so hated?
Going by online reviews, Sara Ramirez's character has not resonated well with veteran 'Sex and The City' fans.
Several fans were unhappy about Diaz's affair with Cynthia Nixon's Miranda.
Besides, Miranda's character development - in terms of sexuality - in 'AJLT' somewhat mimicked Nixon's own life. Nixon separated from her long-time male partner in 2003 and started dating a female education activist Christine Marinoni.
Nixon married Marioni in 2012, and came out as bisexual and queer, per The Atlantic.
Miranda's queer sexuality, first insinuated in the 1998 episode 'Bay of Married Pigs' of the original series, was fully realized in the spin-off. Che Diaz's character helped Miranda identify her sexuality.
However, what irked several fans is they found Diaz to be a cliched representation of a queer character.
Miranda, while still married to her husband Steve (David Eigenberg), falls in love with the non-binary comedian Che Diaz. In the series, Che co-hosts a podcast called 'X, Y and Me' where they discuss “gender roles, sexual roles, and cinnamon rolls.”
A defining moment of Che pressing a button that created a loud 'woke moment' further alienated the character from the audience.
During an appearance on Sam Sanders's podcast 'Into It', Samantha Irby, a writer of the show, compared the character to “the kind of person who turns a coffee order into a lesson in colonialism … Che is like that turned up to a 12.”
Che also somehow became the reason for Miranda leaving her husband Steve unceremoniously at the end of Season 1 of 'AJLT'.
The creator of the show Michael Patrick King has his own theory regarding the outrage. He opined that people's love for Miranda's relationship with Steve might have fueled the criticism of Che.
He recalled in an interview with Variety, “I said in the writing room, ‘Uh, get ready. Because what’s coming is outrage about Miranda calling out her marriage.’ Whoever is in the activating of that will be an issue."
He continued, “People are going to look for who’s the villain. Che is, in my estimation, honest, dangerous, sexy, funnyKing warm."
KIng added, “What everybody else is projecting on that character has a lot to do with what they want to happen to Miranda in the story. It has so little to do with Che.”
How does Sara Ramirez feel about Che Diaz?
Sara Ramirez said in an interview with The New York Times, “I don’t recognize myself in Che."
Ramirez further added, “I’m very aware of the hate that exists online, but I have to protect my own mental health and my own artistry."
They continued, “And that’s way more important to me because I’m a real human being. I’m really proud of the representation that we’ve created."
Conceding that the character is unlikable, Ramirez said, "We have built a character who is a human being, who is imperfect, who’s complex, who is not here to be liked, who’s not here for anybody’s approval,” before adding, “They’re here to be themselves.”
