Tagged: actors

in response to another #WhiteOut at the Oscars, Jada Pinkett-Smith boycotts the ceremony & asks people of Afrikan descent, “Have we now come to a new time and place, where we recognize that we can no longer beg for the love, acknowledgment or respect of ANY group?”

Go Jada!!!!! As she said: “We must stand in POWER.” Black actors and actresses, take note! Hollywood is merely exploiting you. It’s time for us to pull our resources together and do for self!

“Hollywood is like the Rocky Mountains, the higher up you get the whiter it gets and this year’s Academy Awards will be yet another Rocky Mountain Oscars. Yet again, deserving Black actors and directors were ignored by the Academy – which reinforces the fact that there are few if any Blacks with real power in Hollywood. Being left out of Awards consideration is about more than just recognition for a job well done; winning an Oscar has long-lasting cultural and economic impacts.” — Al Sharpton

Of course I agree with Sharpton’s statement, but we all know that this problem isn’t new! What I find interesting is that when I tried to reach out to Sharpton, the NAACP and others about my case years ago, one of Sharpton’s aides said to me that he would only speak out about my case if he was getting paid. Whether I have their support or not, institutionalized racism in Hollywood will be eradicated!

Source: January 14, 2016.  http://nationalactionnetwork.net/press/rev-al-sharpton-blasts-the-academy-of-motion-picture-arts-and-sciences-for-complete-lack-of-diversity-in-2016-oscar-nominations/.

Complex: “White Bro Matt Damon Talks Over a Black Woman to Explain Diversity to Her.”

It’s been 10 years since we last saw Project Greenlight, HBO’s behind-the-scenes movie-making reality series from Hollywood’s favorite bromantic duo, Matt Damon and Ben Affleck. Last night the two brought the show back for its fourth season, replacing former producer Chris Moore with Effie Brown, a film producer who has more than a handful credits under her belt (her most recent and notable one being last year’s Dear White People). In the show Brown pointed out that one of the films on the show features only one black character, who is also a prostitute, so it would be helpful to see diversity from the director’s chair as well. Her point is valid: Diversity from behind the camera helps with both visibility and representation of POC characters. (Plus, God knows Hollywood has more than enough white dudes already.)

But then Matt Damon decided to interrupt Brown mid-sentence and whitemansplain diversity to her (let me just take a moment to point out that Effie Brown is a BLACK WOMAN). But like, what does she know about diversity, right? Matt Damon well-actually’s the convo with: “When we talk about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not the casting of the show.”

Brown, naturally, lets out a near-speechless “WHOO, WOW,” because how do you articulate to Matt Damon that he is talking completely out of his ass?

I love Kristen’s sarcastic write up! There’s nothing worse than a white person trying to deny or downplay a black or person of color’s reality dealing with racism. Click the link below to see the video. Smdh.

Source: Kristen Yoonsoon Kim. Complex. “White Bro Matt Damon Talks Over a Black Woman to Explain Diversity to Her.” September 14, 2015. http://www.complex.com/pop-culture/2015/09/matt-damon-interrupts-effie-brown-diversity-project-greenlight.

“Questions about the academy’s diversity, or lack thereof, have persisted for years. In 1996, the Rev. Jesse Jackson organized nationwide protests over the absence of black and minority Oscar nominees, claiming it was evidence of ‘race exclusion and cultural violence’ in Hollywood.”

Source: John Horn, Nicole Sperling and Doug Smith. “Unmasking the Academy Oscar Voters Overwhelmingly White, Male.”  Los Angeles Times. February 19, 2012. http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/envelope/oscars/la-et-unmasking-oscar-academy-project-20120219-story.html.

“There was a noticeable shift toward minority castings last season, with more parts opening up to ethnic actors, a casting term used for non-Caucasian thesps. It was a concerted effort, with more than one instance where a family member role was rewritten as adopted to make them ethnic. Then, following the success of freshman series How To Get Away With Murder, Black-ish, Fresh Off The Boat, Jane the Virgin and especially Empire, which launched to huge ratings at the kickoff of pilot casting season, ethnic castings exploded this season.”

The white author had the audacity to ask [her mostly white/”Jewish” readers] in the title of her article, if the shift toward minority casting was “too much of a good thing.” Smdh!! Why would anyone ask that, especially if Hollywood has never been and IS STILL NOT racist….

Source: Nellie Andreeva. “Pilots 2015: The Year Of Ethnic Castings – About Time Or Too Much Of Good Thing?” Deadline. March 24, 2015. http://deadline.com/2015/03/tv-pilots-ethnic-casting-trend-backlash-1201386511.

“Bale feels the time will come when another film about Moses will be cast with a North African or Middle Eastern actor. ‘To me that would be a day of celebration. For the actors it would be wonderful. It would be a wonderful day for humanity, but also for films and for storytelling in general,’ he said.”

If Kemet (original name of Egypt) meant “land of the blacks” and in Exodus chapter four, verse six, it states:

And the LORD said furthermore unto [Moses], Put now thine hand into thy bosom. And he put his hand into his bosom: and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous as snow

how could ANYONE believe and/or portray all of the kings, gods and other religious figures in the film as white, while making sure that all slaves are depicted as black? [If the miracle was that God turned Moses’ hand white as snow, then clearly Moses’ hand (and body) was of color.] Based on the director’s casting choices, Scott Ridley is basically perpetuating a very dangerous myth that people of African descent have made no contributions to civilization and that we have been slaves all of our lives! That is FALSE!!! Hence one of the reasons for the film’s backlash.

So, yes Bale, it would be a “wonderful day for humanity” if the TRUTH became more important than MAKING A PROFIT, so we could ALL stop having our realities shaped and distorted by a bunch of European myths and lies. Although Bale seemed a little more sensitive to the issue of historical accuracy, the arrogant ass director’s response to [black] people being offended by the fact that he and Hollywood are continuing to make millions by whitewashing/rewriting history and exploiting/misappropriating our culture, is that we need to “get a life.” Smdh!

Source: John Carucci. “Scott, Bale Defend Choice on Exodus Casting.’ Associated Press. December 8, 2014. http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/movies/20141208_ap_29866a953d034ab891d2fd87a79ff54b.html?c=r.