An article decrying the wokeism that is running rampant throughout Hollywood, particularly marginalizing white men and silencing any opposition, noted that one writer admitted, “I get so paranoid about even phone calls. It’s so scary,” while a showrunner asserted, “This is all going to end in a giant class-action lawsuit.”
Peter Kiefer and Peter Savodnik, writing in Common Sense, started their column by recalling a time a few years ago when a prospective story suggested by the editor-in-chief of The Hollywood Reporter about the unintended consequences of Hollywood’s efforts to diversify was mocked by reporters who dismissed the idea that white men were being frozen out.
“After the meeting, a reporter approached another editor about pursuing it,” the authors continue. “The editor told the reporter to drop it. No one, he said, at The Hollywood Reporter—one of a handful of trade publications that covers the ins and outs of the entertainment industry—was going to risk blowing up their career over this.”
After the 2015 Academy Awards, which were targeted in the #OscarsSoWhite supporters, in 2020 the Academy launched its Representation and Inclusion Standards Entry platform.
“For a movie to qualify for Best Picture, producers not only had to register detailed personal information about everyone involved in the making of that movie, but the movie had to meet two of the Academy’s four diversity standards—touching on everything from on-screen representation to creative leadership,” the authors note.
“We spoke to more than 25 writers, directors, and producers—all of whom identify as liberal, and all of whom described a pervasive fear of running afoul of the new dogma,” the authors state, then quote one writer who said, “Best way to defend yourself against the woke is to out-woke everyone, including the woke.”
“Suddenly, every conversation with every agent or head of content started with: Is anyone BIPOC attached to this?” the authors write.
One writer told the authors:
I get so paranoid about even phone calls. It’s so scary. My close friends and my family are just like, “Don’t say anything.” It is one of those things, “Will I be able to sleep at night if I say anything?”
Rochée Jeffrey, a black writer for “Grownish,” “Santa Inc.,” and “Woke,” snapped, “”I don’t care if white people aren’t comfortable because black people are uncomfortable all the f***ing time. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had to bite my tongue so as not to offend white sensibilities, so I don’t give a s*** if they’re nervous.”
One director told the authors that the fear is “the audience stops trusting us. They begin to see us as a community twisting ourselves into a pretzel to make every movie as woke as possible, every relationship mixed racially, every character sexually fluid, and they decide that we are telling stories set in a fantasyland instead of a world they know and live in. If that happens, and they decide to throw themselves instead into video games 24/7, we will lose them.”
The authors opine:
Movies and shows that were once widely acclaimed but are now verboten, writers and directors said, included “Blazing Saddles,” even though it was co-written by Richard Pryor; “The Bad News Bears,” even though it featured a multiracial cast; “Tootsie,” because transgender activists; and “Rocky” (“bad guy CANNOT be black,” a director explained in an email). Nor would “The Wizard of Oz” get greenlit. (“The munchkins? Forget it,” the director said). Nor would “All in the Family,” probably the most influential show of the 1970s. (“Archie Bunker”—the main character—“is basically a Trump voter,” a producer explained.) “South Park,” which debuted in 1997, has been grandfathered in. “Otherwise, no way,” another producer said.