Come on, Deadline. What were you thinking when you ran that article that basically said casting ethnic people on TV is bad? The film industry website published the article that described television diversity casting in Hollywood as "too much of a good thing" five days ago and it immediately instigated an uproar. Deadline trended on Twitter and How to Get Away With Murder creator Shonda Rhimes also called it "ignorant." It seems Deadline finally saw the error of their ways as Mike Fleming Jr., the site's editor, issued an apology today about the "insensitive" article:
"My co-editor-in-chief Nellie Andreeva’s goal was to convey that there was such an uptick of TV pilot casting of people of color that it pinched white actors who’ve historically gotten most of the jobs, and to question if this could last if it was being treated as a fad. All this was undermined by that headline (which we changed after the fact) and a repetition of the word "ethnic" that came off cold and insensitive. The only appropriate way to view racial diversity in casting is to see it as a wonderful thing, and to hope that Hollywood continues to make room for people of color. The missteps were dealt with internally; we will do our best to make sure that kind of insensitivity doesn’t surface again here. As co-editors in chief, Nellie and I apologize deeply and sincerely to those who’ve been hurt by this. There is no excuse. It is important to us that Deadline readers know we understand why you felt betrayed, and that our hearts are heavy with regret. We will move forward determined to do better."
After tweaking the title, the piece remains up on the site because Fleming says, "I don’t believe you can can make an unwise story disappear and pretend it didn’t happen."
The article, published last week, writes, "the pendulum might have swung a bit too far in the opposite direction. Instead of opening the field for actors of any race to compete for any role in a color-blind manner, there has been a significant number of parts designated as ethnic this year, making them off-limits for Caucasian actors, some agents signal."
Doesn't it make you feel bad for all the white actors that aren't getting casted? It also goes on to say that ethnic casting could be a "trend" that's not maintainable. "While they are among the most voracious and loyal TV viewers, African-Americans still represent only 13% of the U.S. population. They were grossly underserved, but now, with shows as Empire, Black-ish, Scandal and HTGAWM on broadcast, Tyler Perry’s fare on OWN and Mara Brock Akil’s series on BET, they have scripted choices, so the growth in that fraction of the TV audience might have reached its peak."
Deadline clearly needs to watch Dear White People.
