A plaintiff in an American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit at 17, a luxury fashion model as a high school graduate and a role as Jules Vaughn in HBO’s Emmy award-winning series “Euphoria” at 19 — Hunter Schafer appeared as the keynote speaker for the second installment of the “Speaking of Excellence” lecture series at 7 p.m., Feb. 29 in the IU Auditorium.
The series, which first began in April 2023, is a collaborative effort between the IU Union Board and the IU LGBTQ+ Culture Center. “Speaking of Excellence” features keynote lectures from notable members of the LGBTQ community — like Schafer who is transgender — in an effort to increase acceptance and understanding, as well as address bias and discrimination directed toward LGBTQ individuals.
Thursday evening’s event, which was free for all IU students, was a Q&A style keynote lecture, moderated by Alexandros Chatzipanagos, director of Union Board Lectures, and Nithin Krishnan, student staff assistant at the IU LGBTQ+ Culture Center.
In an interview the morning before the show, Chatzipanagos explains it was the previous Union Board which invited Schafer to come and speak.
“It is an opportunity to show people what they are capable of, despite what others think,” Chatzipanagos said. “It promotes the opportunity of excellence, that there are excellent people in various industries that are also a part of the LGBTQ+ community.”
Chatzipanagos explained that he and Krishnan put in a lot of work, going back and forth over several meetings preparing and finalizing questions for the night’s show. Just days before, Schafer was among many to be arrested in Manhattan on Monday while protesting at NBC headquarters during President Joe Biden’s appearance on “Late Night with Seth Myers.” The group that organized the protest, Jewish Voice for Peace, called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. Chatzipanagos shared that they would not be addressing the event during the lecture.
“I feel like the purpose of the show is mostly to promote the LGBTQ+ community,” Chatzipanagos said. “Every talent has their own opinion, and I appreciate the fact that Hunter was able to dare to say something of her own, regardless of whether I agree. The fact that she would say that, I appreciate, and I respect that.”
The show began with a welcome from Bruce Smail, director of the LGBTQ+ Culture Center, followed by an introduction with Alisha Ahmed, the editor-in-chief of SEASON, IU’s student-led fashion magazine.
“This series not only stands as a milestone for modern fashion but most importantly represents LGBTQ+ experiences in mainstream media,” Ahmed said. “What we at SEASON admire the most about our guest of honor tonight is her unveiling commitment to speaking out on issues in the LGBTQ+ community. We as an organization are so excited to have her on campus tonight and have a powerful voice in the community.”
Members of the audience cheered and applauded as Schafer walked on stage alongside moderators Chatzipanagos and Krishnan. Schafer smiled as she shared her excitement to be there with the crowd.
“Thank you for being here,” Schafer said. “This is really cool.”
Over the hour-long conversation, Schafer touched on her inspirations, experiencing fame at a young age and her love for fashion. She talked about walking runways, creative expression with directorial work and typecasting in the film and television industry.
Most recently, Schafer played the character Tigris Snow in the “The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes,” which was released in November 2023. Schafer explains that she was a fan of the series from a young age.
“I kind of felt like I was doing it for little me,” Schafer said. “One of the things that was so striking to me about ‘The Hunger Games’ movies that were coming out, as I had read the books in middle school, [was] seeing the costumes and this androgyny of the capital people. This was before I had transitioned, I was like ‘Oh my god! That’s a guy wearing fake eyelashes.’”
Schafer recalled a story of going to Party City to purchase a pair of tinsel blue eyelashes which she had admired so much in the movies as a middle schooler.
“For that little girl, who didn’t know she was a little girl yet,” Schafer said, “I got to do that for her and that was really cool.”
The show ended with a round of random rapid-fire questions, including that her pet-peeve was overhead lighting, that her favorite television show was “Fleabag” and that she remains close friends with “Euphoria” cast-mate Zendaya.
Schafer also discussed the new film that she stars in, “Cuckoo,” which is set to be released later this year.
“I’m really excited about Cuckoo,” Schafer said. “It’s really cool and its really weird, and freaky, and funny. It’s getting very mixed reactions which we find very exciting.”
According to Rotten Tomatoes, the film will be released in theaters May 3, 2024.
