Sony Producer Says Black Actors Shouldn't Have Lead Roles Because International Audiences Are Racist

Sony Producer Says Black Actors Shouldn't Have Lead Roles Because International Audiences Are Racist

 

JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:

An unnamed producer wrote in an email to Sony chairman Michael Lynton that films with black actors — using Denzel Washington in The Equalizer
as an example — don’t perform well because the international audiences
are “racist,” according to documents found in the Sony hack.

The producer suggested that the two-time Oscar winner should not star
in big-budget films as the international audience will not accept him
in a leading role because of his race.



“I believe that the international motion picture audience is racist —
in general pictures with an African American lead don’t play well
overseas. When Sony made Equalizer they had to know that Denzel opens
pics domestically, however the international gross would be somewhat
limited,” the producer wrote in an Oct. 27 e-mail.



Lynton wrote back asking if he was saying The Equalizer “shouldn’t have been made or that African American actors should be excluded?”



“No, I am not saying ‘The Equalizer’ should not have been made or
that African American actors should not have been used (I personally
think Denzel is the best actor of his generation),” the producer
responded. “Casting him is saying we’re ok with a double if the picture
works,” the producer wrote, using a baseball analogy.



Washington is “reliable at the domestic [box office], safe, but has
not had a huge success in years. I believe whenever possible the non
event pictures, extra ‘bets’ should have a large inherent upside and be
made for the right price. Here there isn’t a large inherent upside,” the
producer wrote.



The producer also wrote that he or she hoped the statement wasn’t “inappropriate or provocative.”



The Equalizer grossed
about $191 million worldwide. Approximately $90 million was earned
overseas. The producer said this figure would have been higher if a
black man wasn’t in the lead role.



According to the emails, a sequel to the movie was set for 2017, but would be “a double, with a remote chance of a home run.”



Calls to Denzel Washington’s publicist were not immediately returned.

Obama spends millions to prevent gun violence | MSNBC

Obama spends millions to prevent gun violence | MSNBC
JohnButts@JBMedia - Reports:
President Barack Obama on Wednesday committed to spending tens of millions of dollars on preventing gun violence, by signing a measure into law.

The bill, the Omnibus Appropriations Act, includes several funding increases for curbing gun violence. The law calls for $73 million to help prevent felons, fugitives, and domestic abusers from  buying guns by improving state submissions of prohibited people into the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS). The price tag is the highest amount ever allocated to the system.

The new measure also requires the FBI to report how well states are performing in submitting records to NICS, and includes $75 million  for a national school safety initiative and $6 million to the U.S.  Department of Justice for community-based efforts, such as public health programs.

“As we head into 2015 we are more inspired than ever that the voice of the American people will prevail over the interests of the corporate gun lobby and the ranks of lapdog politicians who do its bidding,” said Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence.

Background checks have been required nationwide since November 1993, when former President Bill Clinton signed the Brady Bill into law after battling a lengthy struggle to pass the legislation. Since then, the measure has blocked 2.4 million attempts of criminals to purchase guns, according to data from the Bureau of Justice Statistics. But many grassroots organizations around the country continue to push for stricter gun laws to prevent residents from buying firearms on the Internet and at gun shows.

At the congressional level, opposite sides continue to disagree on gun legislation. On Monday, however, the Senate narrowly confirmed  Dr. Vivek Murthy, Obama’s pick for surgeon general. His nomination was held up for more than a year. He faced opposition from the National Rifle Association and some Republican members of Congress over his outspoken stance on gun control. Murthy wrote a letter to Congress urging the passage of stricter gun control measures, and also tweeted following the December 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School: “NRA press conference disappointing but predictable — blame everything in the world except guns for the Newtown tragedy. #wakeup.”

Wins at the state level have kept alive conversations about gun control this year. In the only state where a gun issue was directly on a ballot for the midterm elections in November, Washington residents passed Initiative 594 to require criminal background checks on all firearms sales and transfers in the state, including at gun shows and on the Internet.