Scary Movie 6 accused of transphobia as first trailer in 13 years drops
The first trailer has dropped for Scary Movie 6 and, as anyone likely could have expected of a Scary Movie film coming out in 2026, one of the jokes has already caused controversy.
The film, the first in the franchise since 2013, will see the return of its celebrity cast including Anna Faris, Regina Hall, and the Wayans brothers.
Scary Movie as a franchise has always excelled at parodying horror movies and the wave of incredibly successful scary films in the last decade will make things far easier for the Wayans brothers than if they’d done one ten years ago.
This is immediately obvious with the trailer opening on a scene that manages to parody The Purge, M3GAN, and Scream’s resurgence all in about 30 seconds.
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M3GAN does her customary bizarre dancing, taking off a mask to reveal herself as Ghostface from Scream, stabbing someone in the stomach.
After a passerby yells ‘Oh my god, he stabbed her!’, the victim responds by saying: “Uh, not her! My pronouns are they/them, he stabbed them.”
This joke managed to cause controversy before it was ever even officially released, with the sneak peek of the film having been played ahead of Scream 7 last week.
When this was posted online one since-deleted viral tweet sparked discourse, saying: “First joke is transphobia from 2014. This sh*t is past due date before it even hit the shelves.”
Another tweet referencing the footage taken from inside a cinema said: “Kinda crazy how Marlon Wayans has marketed himself lately as such a strong ally for LGBTQ+ rights and the trailer for the new Scary Movie starts with transphobia.”
Others however were not having the criticism, with one fan pointing to Marlon Wayans highly publicised and positive record of supporting LGBTQ+ rights.
They said: “Marlan Wayans is literally one of the biggest LGBTQ+ advocates we have and has a trans son y’all are just waaaaaay too sensitive.
“Is it the most creative joke? Nah. But that’s literally the core of Scary Movie: camp, parody and cheap laughs.”
Other criticism however did not necessarily say that it was transphobic, but that just that the joke was boring, with one tweet saying: “I wish I could agree with [being frustrated with the controversy] and I fully understand the bit of scary movie is it’s meant to be offensive.
“My problem isn’t ‘transphobia’ my problem is it wasn’t even rlly funny, it was just a generic ‘my pronouns are actually!!’ It’s been overdone a trillion times.”
Ultimately though the majority of fans, separate to the controversy, are simply excited for another instalment in the series.
Speaking to Entertainment Weekly Marlon Wayans promised that the film would be ‘no holds barred and equal opportunity offenders’, adding: “We just want to make everybody laugh, and we don't care if you're sensitive. Even sensitive people need to laugh at themselves.”
One fan commented on the trailer on Reddit saying: “I’m cautiously excited for this. Anna Faris and Regina Hall reuniting is great, but I hope this style of movie still translate to the modern audience.”
Scary Movie 6 releases June 12, 2026.
Topics: Horror, TV and Film, Film, Social Media, Viral, LGBTQ
Michael Slavin