Reneé Rapp says she believes her character Regina George in the 2024 Mean Girls musical movie remake is a lesbian.
The 24-year-old bisexual singer and actor has gained mass attention in recent years, having an especially large queer fanbase. Rapp plays Leighton Murray, a stuck-up yet lovable lesbian, on HBO’s The Sex Lives of College Girls. She also made her full-length album debut in 2023 with Snow Angel. Rapp began her career at 19, combining her acting and singing talent as Regina George in the Broadway musical Mean Girls. Five years later,s she reprised her role for the movie musical adaptation of the Broadway show.
Regina George, an iconic character known for her snarky treatment of others, has been theorized to be a lesbian by queer fans for years. The “popular mean character is secretly gay” trope has been prevalent in pop culture, and encourages fans to analyze their actions through a queer lens.
Reneé Rapp chimes into the debate and makes her perception of Regina being a lesbian clear. In an Instagram post, Rapp writes a caption that simply states “Regina George was a lesbian.”
Mean Girls watchers note the dramatic fallout Regina and Janis had over Janis’s lesbianism. Though the two hate each other during the film, their mysterious past alludes to homoerotic elements. Regina’s cruel disposition is explained through repression and resentment. Whether this is harmful or not is another story, but either way, Regina holds queer characteristics.
Rapp’s portrayal of Regina is not the only vocally queer shift in the 2024 Mean Girls movie musical. Janis is an implied lesbian in the 2004 Mean Girls, though the end of the film shows her romantically with a man. The 2024 version has Janis (Auli’i Cravalho) as a lesbian who goes to the spring fling with another woman. Tina Fey, the writer of Mean Girls, says in an interview with GAY TIMES that Mean Girls (2024) “might be the gayest movie ever made.”
The 2024 Mean Girls showcases multiple openly queer characters and Reneé Rapp playing Regina Geroge through a queer lens, making the already gay staple film, even gayer.
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