Sarah Jessica Parker Responds to Backlash Over Che Diaz: “I Was Shocked” By Hate Toward ‘And Just Like That’ Character

Che Diaz has officially left the chat — and not everyone is sad about it. As And Just Like That Season 3 kicks off on HBO Max, longtime Sex and the City fans have noticed one major absence: Sara Ramirez’s Che Diaz, the non-binary stand-up comic who had a high-profile romance with Miranda Hobbes (Cynthia Nixon) in the show’s first two seasons.

Che was one of the reboot’s most divisive characters, sparking thinkpieces, memes, and heated debates. Critics often slammed the character as a clunky attempt at queerness, calling Che a “caricature” and a symbol of the show’s occasionally awkward efforts to modernize.

Now, series star and executive producer Sarah Jessica Parker is addressing the controversy for the first time — and she admits the backlash caught her completely off guard.

“A friend of mine brought it up to me, and it’s like: ‘What are you talking about?’ And he said: ‘Yeah, there’s all this conversation,’” Parker told The Guardian in a new interview. “I’ve been an actor for 50 years, and I’ve almost never paid attention to peripheral chatter. I loved working with them.”

Parker also reflected on her own character Carrie Bradshaw and the way audiences have responded to her over the years — especially in comparison to beloved TV “bad boys” like Tony Soprano.

“I prefer that to any other description of her, because it allows her to be as male as the men have been. I love The Sopranos so much, and I look at all the times [Tony] was unlawful, and we loved him. Carrie has an affair and everybody falls apart,” she said.

“An antihero, to me, is somebody that’s not behaving in conventional ways, and she hasn’t ever… A lot of people love her too, though!”

Sex and the City ran for six seasons from 1998 to 2004 and spawned two feature films. And Just Like That premiered in 2021 and is currently streaming its third season on HBO Max.