Phoro By Greg Hernandez - http://www.flickr.com/photos/greginhollywood/10991183024/ CC BY 2.0, Link |
"As for Lee Daniels, in a profile published on the New York Times’ website on December 28, as his new Fox series “Star” premieres (which has a white female lead – “I wanted to show a white girl that had some swag” as “part of the healing process… I wanted white people to feel cool. I wanted them to not be made fun of. We are one”), the writer/director/producer was “sent into a fit of frustration” says the article, when the #OscarsSoWhite protests was brought up by the interviewer. His apparently fuming response to the controversy was: “Go out and do the work… Oscars so white! So what? Do your work. Let your legacy speak and stop complaining, man. Are we really in this for the awards? If I had thought that way — that the world was against me — I wouldn’t be here now… These whiny people that think we’re owed something are incomprehensible and reprehensible to me. I don’t expect acknowledgment or acceptance from white America. I’m going to be me.”
http://shadowandact.com/2016/12/31/tyler-perry-accuses-black-critics-of-reverse-racism-and-lee-daniels-dismisses-oscarssowhite-advocates-as-reprehensible/
AND, I THINK HIS STATEMENT IS NOT THE LEAST BIT SURPRISING because I think of Uncle Ruckus every time I see Daniels' face.
PRECIOUS Lee Daniels took the book "Push" which was about black and brown women supporting one another to overcome things that had happened to them in their lives and made "Precious," a version beloved of white people because it plays out like "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in its (always white supremacy based) colorism.
Look at the cast of "Precious" In a continuum of smart and good people to victim (Precious) or trash(mother) people, it goes from light to dark. In the book Miss Rain probably was probably closer to looking like Whoopi Goldberg than Paula Patton
Most importantly Precious was not a victim that needed saving in the book "Push" In the book you know what Precious' deal is in the beginning.The abuse is NOT a punchline like it was in the movie.
In the book she was a survivor of sexual abuse battling her way up with the help of a black and brown sisterhood <--- But that don't sell in OscarsSoWhite town. And he knew it.
THE BUTLER
The SUPPORTING cast of The Butler reads like a who's who of biracial people. I've never seen so many biracial MEN in one black movie before -- which was kind of entertaining since this kind of colorism is usually visited upon black women without anybody "noticing."
-----
EMPIRE
It ain't an accident so many on are on the light side.
STAR
I'm hearing Daniels is completely consistent here.
CONCLUSION
So yeah, color me unsurprised Daniels is claiming not to see the purpose of the OscarsSoWhite protest as he panders to the white folks at the Fox Network that love him so well.
Don't believe me? Well, when Daniels breaks up with his boyfriend, maybe the third or fourth shoe will drop for ya. The boyfriend ought to have a lot to say about Daniels' love of all perspectives pale.
In the meantime...
The work black people need to do
is to NOT support black people
who cater to white supremacy
by saying the OscarSoWhite Years 1 and 2
are both the result of black laziness.
Pssst!
Anthony Mackie said the same thing a few years back
before anybody had a clue who he was
So, I'm kinda waiting for his
Marvel character to be a casualty of cinematic war.
We cannot leap to support every single body with dark skin. Yeah, there's room for debate and difference of opinion. But sometimes we have to know when someone is catering to the white gaze.
Sometimes we have to stop someone black from pouring anti-black messages over us because a person raised black can pour anti-black messages in a way so subtle that you won't notice it at first.
And that makes this kind of Uncle Ruckus dangerous.
Read More:
SOMETIMES IT'S BETTER IF YOU SEE UNCLE RUCKUS COMING