Laverne Cox Channels Trauma Into Comedy for ‘Clean Slate’
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Laverne Cox has come out with a very important series at a very important time.
Clean Slate, which premiered on Amazon Prime Video on February 6, stars the Orange Is The New Black alum alongside George Wallace.
Laverne reached deep into her own childhood pain to tell this humorous, uplifting story.
But she hopes that this will have a healing effect upon viewers. Especially now, at a time when her story is so painfully relevant.
Laverne Cox and George Wallace star in ‘Clean Slate’ on Prime
Clean Slate is a new series of Prime Video. The show stars Laverne Cox as Desiree, the estranged adult daughter of Harry Slate, portrayed by George Wallace.
Desiree returns to her small Alabama hometown where Harry lives and owns a car wash. Funding for her art gallery in New York has fallen through, and her visit home turns into an extended stay.
The catch is that she isn’t just playing catch-up on life events. She is a transgender woman, and until the moment of their reconnection, her father has only known her as his “son.”
Speaking to People alongside the premiere, Laverne expressed how using very real stories of what it means to be trans in our deeply transphobic society also means being able to “explore healing” and humor on the show.
Laverne explained how she took her own “contentious, conflicted relationship with home” and the “trauma of my childhood.” She then made them “quite hilarious for the show.”
Traditionally, real-life trauma is a major source of inspiration for comedy. That’s as true for Clean Slate as it is for the bulk of stand-up comedy. Ultimately, Laverne hopes that this is “healing for the audience.”
Laverne Cox knows how vital stories like ‘Clean Slate’ are right now
Though revisiting some aspects of her childhood was “triggering, almost every day,” Laverne Cox knows that it’s for a good cause. And not only in service of the show itself.
CNN reported on her statements elsewhere about what it means to make a series like Clean Slate at a time when the worst political figures on the planet are using the LGBTQ+ community — and particularly the trans community — as a scapegoat and a malicious rallying cry.
“In terms of the trans aspect of it, we’re experiencing the most intense backlash against trans visibility that I’ve seen in my lifetime,” Laverne acknowledged.
“You know, the Republican Party spent $215 million on anti-trans ads in this last election,” Laverne Cox cited. “And if you watched, you would think the last election was about trans people and immigrants.”
“Executive orders limiting our rights, 26 states banned gender affirming care for young people, banning us from the military, from bathrooms,” she listed grimly. “There’s this whole anti-trans thing, and we’re less than 1% of the population.”
Referring to a recent response to the bigoted anti-trans backlash, Laverne noted: “Someone in my comment section said, ‘They’re worried about the wrong 1%.’” (The right 1% being billionaires, some of whom are actively dismantling the US government as we speak)
‘They’re worried about the wrong 1%’
“In 2025, as federal bans come down attacking trans people, what I love about this show and what I love about being an artist is that artists can be arbiters of empathy,” Laverne expressed. She pointed out that empathy “can foster humanity.”
She acknowledged: “Trans people have been so deeply dehumanized over the past several years.”
Laverne then affirmed: “Art, getting to know trans people as people, is a way to re-humanize.”
