Will Ferrell Regrets Visiting Texas Restaurant

Comedian Will Ferrell said he regrets visiting a Texas restaurant after he made a stop there with his friend Harper Steele.

Ferrell and Steele’s Netflix documentary, Will & Harper, showcases a 17-day road trip across the U.S. According to the Chron, the trip became uncomfortable during their stop at The Big Texan Steak Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.

In March 2023, during the restaurant’s 72-ounce steak challenge, Harper Steele, who came out as transgender in 2022, offered a toast to Texas, wishing for better trans rights.

“I’m from Iowa, but I will raise a glass to your great state of Texas,” Steele said, holding a glass of wine. “I wish you guys would do more for trans rights in this state.” She recalled women booed at her.

“It went dead, completely dead. That’s not how we would treat you up in Iowa,” she said.

Ferrell, dressed as Sherlock Holmes from his 2018 film, tried to support Steele, but the situation only escalated, resulting in a wave of negative social media comments afterward. The documentary doesn’t show the toast, but it focuses on the aftermath, capturing Steele’s discomfort and Ferrell’s remorse for the unexpected situation.

Steele later described the experience made her feel vulnerable like her “transness was on display.”

Ferrell expressed regret for visiting the restaurant.

“I didn’t really have a grasp on how intense it was going to be and felt responsible for not properly vetting the situation we were putting ourselves in,” Ferrell said. “That felt like it was going to be this benign place where you eat a big steak in the amount of time, and then you walk in and it’s a thousand people seated in this room and I was like, ‘Oh, why are we here?'”

“​​I wished I’d walked in and said: ‘No. This is going to be terrible. Let’s just go. I was feeling that remorse and guilt of even going there.”

The Texas setting added weight to their experience, especially considering recent legislative actions that have restricted transgender rights.