As Black Lives Matter protests in honor of George Floyd and other victims of police brutality continue across the country, corporations and celebrities scrambled to find the appropriate tone to respond on their own social media accounts, to varying success. And while people started pulling receipts (I’ll admit I wasn’t expecting the Metropolitan Opera to get dragged quite so hard), Black entertainers began to spill their own stories about racism they’d experienced in their lives. I’ve gather some to go in between other industry news this week, so content warning for racism and discussions of police brutality.
I’ve been very quiet about my experience with RT, but with the now vocalizarion of regret of lack of support from my ex coworkers I can say with confidence I didn’t leave because of the community, I left because of the company. https://t.co/4EwAHAxHv1
— Mica Burton (@MicaBurton) June 3, 2020
Rooster Teeth’s Mariel Salcedo responded to a tweet about the racism faced by Mica Burton during her stint at the company. This prompted the cosplayer, actress, and daughter of LeVar Buron, to tweet about her time there. While at RT, Burton was and editor and head of streaming of Achievement Hunter, and eventually became the co-host and editor for The Know.
To my black fans, I have now made it my purpose to fight for us. To the six year old me who had no role model that looked like me on TV. This is for you. We aren’t your token black non dimensional characters. This is being black in Hollywood. I will fight for YOU ? https://t.co/OgsB5ZjDjE
— Vanessa Morgan (@VanessaMorgan) June 3, 2020
Vanessa Morgan, who plays Toni Topaz on Riverdale, posted a #BlackLivesMatter tweet about the portrayal of Black people in media as “thugs, dangerous or angry scary people.” When a fan commented that she should get twice the money for her work, she replied “Lmao too bad I’m the only black series regular but also paid the least… girl i could go on for days.”
She clarified that she had no ill-will toward her castmates, as they “don’t call the shots & I know they have my back.” [Deadline]
LMAO REMEMBER WHEN YOU MADE MY FIRST TELEVISON GIG A LIVING HELL?!?! CAUSE ILL NEVER FORGET. I BELIEVE YOU TOLD EVERYONE THAT IF TOU HAD THE OPPORTUNITY YOU WOULD “SHIT IN MY WIG!” AMONGST OTHER TRAUMATIC MICROAGRESSIONS THAT MADE ME QUESTION A CAREER IN HOLLYWOOD… https://t.co/RkcaMBmtDA
— SAMEYA (@Sammie_Ware) June 2, 2020
Samantha Ware (The Glee Project), however, had some shit to talk about her former Glee castmate Lea Michele, causing The Flash star Candice Patton, who has been the target of racist bullying, to comiserate. Other Glee alum replied with gifs or liked the initial tweet, giving it even more of a boost. [Variety]
My participation in any diversity panel will now require a donation first. Thanks.
— Candice Patton (@candicepatton) June 5, 2020
Don’t believe this is real yet? I almost skipped #comiccon 2019 because of death threats I received on Twitter for kissing #KatieMcgrath I had to demand extra security and metal detectors. I lost sleep over that. We are tired of being stuck in between hopeless and hopeful. #BLM
— Mehcad (@MehcadBrooks) June 4, 2020
Supergirl’s Jimmy Olsen, Mehcad Brooks, took to Twitter to say that he’d been the recipient of enough death threats that he’d considered skipping San Diego Comic Con last year.
You remember when the black actors wanted to put on a Black Lives Matter Benefit show and you said only if we gave half of the proceeds to the Chicago PD, because I will never forget. Remember when you would make black people audition for job you simply just have to white people? https://t.co/LA92b13qs3
— Dewayne Perkins (@DewaynePerkins) June 4, 2020
Comedian Dewayne Perkins (writer for Brooklyn 99) went on a tear about the racism he experienced at The Second City yesterday. Today, it’s CEO, producer, and co-owner Andrew Alexander resigned. [SecondCity]
If you haven’t watched John Boyega’s speech at a Hyde Park demonstration from this week, you should set aside five minutes to watch.
And, as per the title, one last call out:
I’m an out-of-work actor who (improbably) played a detective on two episodes of BLUE BLOODS almost a decade ago.
If you currently play a cop?
If you make tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in residuals from playing a cop?
I’ll let you do the math. pic.twitter.com/En4ww2OSjP
— Griffin Newman (@GriffLightning) June 2, 2020
While the major stars of Law & Order: SVU didn’t respond to Griffin Newman’s (The Tick) challenge, the cast of Brooklyn 99 donated $100,000 to the National Bailfund Network (so y’all can keep watching it).
News
Now that Ruby Rose is off Batwoman, the titular hero will be replaced by a new, non-Kate Kane heroine to don the cowl, which I guess is a choice. [THR]
Ryan Gosling might play a wolfman for yet another attempt at a successful Universal monster film. [THR]
If you weren’t calling out racists on celebrity Twitter, you might have posted a black square in honor of #BlackoutTuesday, a loosely organized event meant to amplify support that ended up mostly clogging up hashtags used for actual organizing. See who uploaded one! [Deadline]
Robert Pattison continues his press tour by claiming he still has no idea what Christopher Nolan’s Tenet is about. [IndieWire]
And to end on a lighter note, please read this adorable interview with actress Kiersey Clemons and her partner Ebony de la Haye. They met on the set of the horror film Sweetheart (2019), in which de la Haye served as her stunt double, and have been dating ever since. Love is real! [Variety]
can i option the “film star falls in love with stunt double” story even if it happened on my set?
this is one of my favorite things to come from SWEETHEARThttps://t.co/mxLxwwTSyR
— JD Dillard (@JGDillard) June 4, 2020
