"Zoolander 2" character "the equivalent of blackface," protest petitioner says

The comedy, due out in February, finds Stiller and Owen Wilson's characters Derek Zoolander and Hansel trying to make a comeback via the reality game show route. They get back into the fashion world to help thwart a culprit trying to "kill all the beautiful people."  Justin Bieber is among the lovely victims.

Cumberbatch plays a gender-neutral model named All. He appears for just a moment in the film's new trailer but that was long enough to outrage the nearly 7,000 people who signed a petition urging a boycott of the film.

"Cumberbatch’s character is clearly portrayed as an over-the-top, cartoonish mockery of androgyne/trans/non-binary individuals," the petition reads. "This is the modern equivalent of using blackface to represent a minority."