So you’ve heard of racism, and you may have even heard of the phenomenon known as “whitewashing,” in which Hollywood studios take endless amounts of heat from the SJW community for casting white actors in roles that are “supposed” to go to blacks/Asians/Eskimos/etc. But have you heard of “colorism?” Well, that’s apparently the newest bugaboo for people with absolutely nothing going on in their lives.
Colorism, to our understanding, is when a movie studio properly casts a black person in a role meant for a black person, BUT that black person is not a dark-skinned as the individual they are meant to portray.
Yes, we’re at that point now.
From NBC New York:
Will Smith will play Richard Williams, the father of tennis stars Venus and Serena Williams, in the new movie “King Richard.” But some have pointed out Smith is lighter-skinned than Williams and suggested actors like Idris Elba and Mahershala Ali, closer to Richard Williams’ skin tone, replace the “Men in Black” actor.
After the news broke, some people took to Twitter to vent their frustration about Smith’s casting.
“Why is he always cast in roles portraying dark skin men like there aren’t tons of black actors that would make more sense for the role?” one Twitter user asked.
“Scarlett Johansson might as well play Venus with this kind of mess casting,” another Twitter user wrote, comparing the casting to whitewashing.
Like…it just…it never ends with these people.
And by “these people” we mean the permanently outraged call-out mob on social media. At what point are we going to collectively decide – left, right, and center – to just ignore these people? They are ruining movies, they are ruining stand-up comedy – they are even ruining young adult literature! There is no aspect of pop culture and American life they will leave untouched. That might be acceptable if they were on some sort of meaningful, cultural crusade, but no one believes that for a minute. They are “getting something” out of finding new and inventive ways to rock the boat, and they are feeding off the moral high of seeing Hollywood studios, comedians, and even high school play productions bow to their hivemind.
Our fervent hope is that Will Smith ignores this made-up controversy completely, and that the producers of this movie do the same. There is no winning with this outrage mob. They don’t care about having a dialogue. They don’t even care about changing the world. All they care about is finding the newest, most ridiculous excuse to exercise their collective power.
Colorism? REALLY???
