Suicide Squad Director David Ayer Responds to Complaints That Harley Quinn Was “Sexualized”

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Apr 11, 2020

Suicide Squad director David Ayer recently addressed a number of fan questions regarding Harley Quinn and specifically discussed one who complained that Harley Quinn was “sexualized” in the film.

The conversation began when Ayer answered a question regarding Harley’s hair in Suicide Squad. When asked why Harley had dark roots in Birds of Prey and light roots in Suicide Squad, Ayer responded, “I had assumed she had light hair based on the comics.”

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Ayer then responded to a fan who noted Birds of Prey will make “HALF A Billion” less than Suicide Squad.

He stated, “Look a lot of people created distance from Squad. And it hurt. But this is a business not a huge box.”

“It is a BUSINESS. I’m an easy target. Keep shooting,” Ayer reiterated.

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When asked if he would ever do a live commentary of Suicide Squad, Ayer simply responded, “I’d never work again ;)”

Twitter user @graceshade5 then responded to another user who asked if Gotham City Sirens was on the table writing, “I hope they make it but with a female director.”

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When asked why that was important, graceshade5 complained that Harley Quinn was “sexualized in the entire Suicide Squad Movie.”

Ayer responded, “Sadly her story arc was eviscerated. It was her movie in so many ways.”

He added, “Look I tried. I rendered Harley comic book accurate.”

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“Everything is political now. Everything. I just want to entertain,” he continued.

Ayer concluded, “I will do better.”

Ayer previously defended his film while also expressing his desire for a time machine to alter significant plot points of the film.

In 2017, he wrote, “Thank you so much. I know it’s a controversial film, I really tried to make something different, with a look and a voice of its own.”

He continued, “I took inspiration from the insanity of the original comics. Making a movie is a journey, not a straight line. I learned so much. People want what they want, and everyone has a personal vision of how each character should look and walk and talk. If you set out to make a mass appeal movie, it’s easy to end up with vanilla. But I went for it.”

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He added, “And I know Squad has its flaws, Hell, the World knows it. Nothing hurts more than to pick up a newspaper and see a couple years of your blood, sweat and tears ripped to shreds. The hate game is strong out there.”

“The movie was wildly successful commercially. And the World got introduced into some very cool characters in the DC Universe. And that success is due exactly to the wonder and power of DC, of its characters,” Ayer wrote.

Ayer then detailed there were changes he would make specifically regarding Jared Leto’s Joker.

“Would I do a lot of things different? Yep, for sure. Wish I had a time machine. I’d make Joker the main villain and engineer a more grounded story,” Ayer explained.

“I have to take the good and bad learn from it. I love making movies and I love DC. I’m a High School dropout and used to paint houses for a living. I’m lucky to have the job I have,” Ayer continued.

He concluded, “I have to give the characters the stories and plots they deserve next time. Real talk. (And no, there isn’t a secret edit of the film with a bunch of Joker scenes hidden in a salt mine somewhere.)”

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In January of this year, Ayer stated he would never apologize for Suicide Squad writing, “Never ever my dude. I’m proud of it for all it’s flaws.”

He added, “Aaaaaaand it’s still living rent free in your head.”

What do you make of Ayer’s recent comments regarding Harley Quinn?

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