August 13, 2019
IMDb received some criticism from LGBTQ actors and activists in June over their policy regarding actors' birthnames. The company previously did not allow actors or representatives to remove birthnames in any circumstance, which was called a form of deadnaming. EDGE reported on
On Monday, however, IMDb changed its stance
"IMDb now permits the removal of birth names if the birth name is not broadly publicly known and the person no longer voluntarily uses their birth name," the spokesperson said.
The representative went on to outline the procedure for requesting removal, which still requires the approval of an IMDb employee.
"To remove a birth name either the person concerned or their professional industry representative simply needs to contact IMDb" s="" customer="" support="" staff="" to="" request="" a="" birth="" name="" removal,"="" the="" spokesperson="" added.="" "Once="" the="" IMDb="" team="" determines="" that="" an="" individual's="" birth="" name="" should="" be="" removed="" –="" subject="" to="" this="" updated="" process="" –="" we="" will="" review="" and="" remove="" every="" occurrence="" of="" their="" birth="" name="" within="" their="" biographical="" page="" on="" IMDb."
IMDb will still publish birth names in the case that the person is credited on screen with that name.
This comes as a win to trans actors and actresses such as Laverne Cox (Orange is the New Black), who campaigned against the policy two months ago, outlining how harmful deadnaming had been to her in a heartfelt Twitter post.
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