diversity

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Stacey Dash: Jesse Williams is a ‘perfect example of a Hollywood plantation slave’

Just know, I was looking to avoid covering this, but it’s the Friday before a long holiday weekend and there isn’t much else going on. I’d actually like some commenter-thoughts on this one: in the future, is it smarter to simply avoid Stacey Dash stories completely, no matter how hard she’s trolling? Or should we cover those stories because we need to say (repeatedly) that Stacey Dash is a terrible person filled with terrible ideas? The BET Awards were held last Sunday, and one of the best moments from the show was Jesse Williams receiving an award for his humanitarian work, and his work with Black Lives Matter and the Advancement Project. Here’s his speech again: @iJesseWilliams full speech. P R E A C H!!!https://t.co/CESmMrtmWA — 100% (@goafgang) June 27, 2016 It was a powerful speech that touched on many issues, from police brutality to the exclusion of black women from the narrative of civil rights movements, from savage inequalities in education to the systemic appropriation of black art and talent. Many were moved to tears by Williams. But not Stacey Dash, master troll and Fox News idiot. Dash got on her Patheos blog to complain about Jesse’s speech and insult him for daring to be a black man at an awards show recognizing diversity in the arts and making a speech about the racial problems we still have in this country. How dare he, right? Here’s part of what Dash wrote (I’m leaving her typos): You’ve just seen the perfect example of a HOLLYWOOD plantation slave! Sorry, Mr Williams. But the fact that you were standing on that stage at THOSE awards tells people you really don’t know what your talking about. Just spewing hate and anger. Because you my man are just like everyone else hustling to get money. But your cognitive dissidents has you getting it from THAT BYSTANDER whom YOU DONT NEED. Yes. BLACK ENTERTAINMENT TELEVISION is WHITE OWNED. GET over yourself and get on with it! That chip on the shoulders of people like you will weigh you down and keep you from flying free. But true freedom is never free. You have to know how to fly. If anyone is making you feel this way its you. Living in a psychological prison of your own making. If anyone is GHETTO-IZING anyone, it’s people like you letting the BETs and other media outlets portray us in stereotypes. [From Dash’s Patheos blog] A few points. You’re not your. Cognitive dissonance not cognitive dissidents. As for the rest of it… I don’t even want to waste my energy trying to figure out the pretzel of logic she uses to claim that Jesse William is the one ghettoizing people and stereotyping people. How is Jesse Williams a “plantation slave” for working with black activists and making a speech about how much work is left to be done? Who can tell anymore? A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing. Photos courtesy of WENN.

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Zendaya on the election: ‘It’s disappointing, sad, and scary. You have to vote.’

Zendaya covers the Jusly issue of Cosmopolitan looking like she’s trying to fix her shoe while showing off her incredible legs. I remember marveling at how she towered over Ryan Seacrest on the red carpet at the Grammys and it turns out she’s 5’10″ tall, which is not surprising. She’s got to be over 6′ in heels. The people at Cosmo sent us some advance quotes and while I would be surprised to hear them from most other 19 year-old starlets (see: Chloe Grace Moretz), it’s typical of Zendaya to sound wise beyond her years. She emphasized that young people who are scared to see the direction of this year’s election need to actually go out and vote instead of just tweet about it. That may sound like a no-brainer, but it’s true. She also detailed an incident in which a former publicist was racially insensitive, so she sacked her. (I love that term! I never get to use that, it’s so British.) On the election and voting: “There’s really crazy stuff happening right now, and it’s disappointing, sad, and scary. My generation, we really have to step up to the plate and vote. Tweeting is great — people say, ‘Oh, I don’t want this or that’ — but at the end of the day, tweeting isn’t a ballot. Just saying that you don’t like someone on Twitter is not going to turn a state blue or red. You have to vote.” On her return to Disney as the star and co-producer of K.C. Undercover: “The only way I was going to come back to the Disney Channel was if I was in a position of more power. One thing that is really important to me is diversity on the channel. It’s hard as a young person of a different ethnicity or background to look at the TV and not see anyone who looks like you. Representation is very important.” On a situation on set with someone being racially insensitive: “I didn’t like my hair and makeup one time on a photo shoot, and my publicist told me, ‘You should just be happy with it — they haven’t had a black girl on the cover since forever.’ She’s no longer my publicist.” On being in love versus casual hookups: “Me, personally? I would much rather be in love and have the full experience with the person I’m doing that with. Everyone deserves to be in love — it’s different from when you’re with someone you don’t really know. But as long as you protect yourself and get tested periodically, then by all means, go ahead and do what you’ve got to do!” [from Cosmopolitan] I like how she was diplomatic about her own dating preferences vs. people who like casual sex. She doesn’t sound judgy. I mean she gets her dad to chaperone dates, which seems a little excessive at 19 but maybe that’s her choice too. Given how self-possessed she is, it seems likely that she would have a say in that. Also, is she dissing the Disney channel or just television in general for not being more representative of society? I would say she’s talking about TV as a whole, because the Disney channel seems like it’s somewhat diverse already. I bet Zendaya has helped make changes there. photos credit: WENN and Cosmopolitan

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Ian McKellen: Hollywood still discriminates against gay people & black people

Over the holidays, I finally got around to seeing Mr. Holmes, the critically acclaimed film about Sherlock Holmes’ last case. Ian McKellen was the ancient Sherlock, and he was actually quite brilliant. So brilliant, I kind of wonder why he wasn’t a bigger part in the awards discussion. Ian has been nominated for two Oscars in his life, along with a slew of other awards for stage and screen. Most of those nominations and awards came after Ian came out of the closet. But I’m willing to acknowledge that Ian is sort of gay unicorn, much like Neil Patrick Harris: they are out gay men accepted by the “mainstream” to a large extent, possibly because they’re white men. Why do I bring this up? Ian has said some words about #OscarsSoWhite, and he draws a larger correlation with the groups shunned by the industry: women, LGBT and actors of color. Sir Ian McKellen has told Sky News he has “sympathy” for black people in Hollywood who feel discriminated against but added that gay people are also still being “disregarded”. The 76-year-old, who is gay and a co-founder of the rights group Stonewall, said criticism surrounding the lack of diversity among nominees at the Oscars is “legitimate”. Sir Ian said: “As a representative of the industry they’re in, it’s receiving complaints which I fully sympathise with. It’s not only black people who’ve been disregarded by the film industry, it used to be women, it’s certainly gay people to this day. And these are all legitimate complaints and the Oscars are the focus of those complaints of course.” [From Sky News] I don’t have a problem with what he says. He’s practicing “yes and” activism/alliance and he seems open to intersectionality. He’s not saying it’s a competition to see which is the most aggrieved group, he’s just saying that these groups (black people, LGBT and women) are largely disregarded by Hollywood stories. And he’s right. In another interview Monday, this time with the Guardian, Ian pointed out something really interesting: no openly gay actor has won the Oscar. He said: “No openly gay man has ever won the Oscar; I wonder if that is prejudice or chance.” He pointed out that Tom Hanks, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Sean Penn have all won Oscars for playing gay men but, “What about giving me one for playing a straight man? My speech has been in two jackets … ‘I’m proud to be the first openly gay man to win the Oscar.’ I’ve had to put it back in my pocket twice.” Damn, that actually tugged on my heartstrings a little bit. Even if Ian never wins the Oscar for acting, I have to think he’s got one coming for lifetime achievement, right? Embed from Getty Images Photos courtesy of Getty, Fame/Flynet and Pacific Coast News.

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Charlotte Rampling: The #OscarsSoWhite debacle is ‘racist to whites’

Charlotte Rampling got a “surprise” Oscar nomination for her film 45 Years. I still haven’t seen it, although the reviews for Charlotte in particular are wonderful. Rampling was snubbed for nominations at many awards shows (including the BAFTAs), but the Academy showed her some love… at the same time they were actively snubbing artists of color. So when Charlotte was doing a French radio interview this week, she was asked about the growing controversy of #OscarsSoWhite. And Rampling showed off why she’s so popular with the over-60, overwhelmingly white Academy voters. Oscar nominee Charlotte Rampling has claimed the current campaign to boycott the 2016 Academy Awards over claims of a diversity deficit is racist to white people. Asked for her take on the current furore over all-white lists of nominees on French Radio network Europe 1 on Friday morning, the British actor did not mince her words. “It is racist to whites,” she said. “One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” added Rampling. Asked if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should introduce quotas, a proposal which no current advocate of increased diversity has mooted, she responded: “Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted … People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’ … someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ [this or that] … But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?” When the interviewer explains that black members of the film industry feel like a minority, Rampling replies: “No comment.” [From The Guardian] We can all shake our heads and roll our eyes, but HAND TO GOD, this is honestly how many Academy voters feel. And I’d just like to point out how sad/hilarious/insensitive it is for an old white Englishwoman to claim that white people are the victims of racism. It would be like Winston Churchill claiming Indians were racist against him. When a group that has historically been the oppressor of other races suddenly claims to be the victim of racism? It’s almost magical. An angel just got his wings. Photos courtesy of WENN.