'The White Lotus' Carrie Coon Says HBO Removed Scene About 'Non-Binary Child' After Trump Won Election

The third season of "The White Lotus" originally included a scene in which Carrie Coon's character revealed to her friends that she had a "non-binary" child.

"[Viewers] originally found out that her daughter was actually nonbinary, maybe trans, and going by they/them," Coon told Harper's Bazaar in an interview. "You see Laurie struggling to explain it to her friends, struggling to use they/them pronouns, struggling with the language, which was all interesting."

Coon plays a character named Laurie Duffy, who vacations in Thailand with her girlhood friends Kate Bohr and Jaclyn Lemon. The three well-off mean girls are there to fend off their midlife crises and to prove to themselves, as Jaclyn put it, that they are still "young and hot."

As great as the three women tell each other their lives are, their unhappiness is evident. They are visibly jealous, bitter, and especially judgmental.

Early in the season, two of the friends belittle Kate for suggesting she may have voted for Donald Trump. Here's the scene:

Painfully accurate, indeed.

"Non-binary" scene deleted in "White Lotus"

Coon says the scene about her "non-binary" child was linked to Kate's apparent support for Trump. 

"It was only a short scene, but for me, it did make the question of whether Kate voted for Trump so much more provocative and personally offensive to Laurie, considering who her child is in the world," Coon said. 

So, the point of the scene was to condemn Trump for not supporting "non-binary" children. Got it.

The actress also claims the scene was removed after Trump won the election.

"The season was written before the election," Coon added. "And considering the way the Trump administration has weaponized the cultural war against transgender people even more since then, when the time came to cut the episode down, Mike [White] felt that the scene was so small and the topic so big that it wasn’t the right way to engage in that conversation." 

By "weaponizing the cultural war against transgender people," Coon refers to the Trump administration's efforts to keep biological males out of female sports. 

Unbeknownst to Coon, protecting female athletes is hardly a "culture war" issue. According to CNN, around 76% of Americans support Trump's efforts to do so.

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 10: Carrie Coon arrives at the Los Angeles Premiere Of HBO Original Series "The White Lotus" Season 3 at Paramount Theatre on February 10, 2025 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Maya Dehlin Spach/WireImage)

"Gender goblins"

Season three of "The White Lotus" did, however, include a scene about the "gender goblins" – as in the trans folks.

"Women are super jacked guys anymore," the character Piper tells her older brother Saxon, who is trying to get their little brother laid on vacation.

"What are they into, Piper? Gender goblins that tuck their d---s in between their legs?" Saxon, played by Patrick Schwarzenegger, responds. "Don’t turn our little brother into an a-gender, a-sexual like you."

Mike White isn't afraid to make jokes about topics people like Coon find sensitive. So, perhaps he just didn't find the scene about Laurie's "non-binary" child funny enough to make the cut.

To his credit, subtle humor is what makes "The White Lotus" arguably the best show on television. Yes, better than "Severance."

Finally, as great of an actress as Carrie Coon is, the real her comes across as loathsome and intolerant as her character in the show. No wonder she plays the role so well.