After the murder of George Floyd in 2020, entertainment studios, networks and music companies tried to meet the moment by pronouncing solidarity and pledging millions of dollars to support social justice programs. Three years later, those efforts have not only seemingly stalled, but many feel ground is being lost. Has Hollywood simply checked out? Kevin “Boss” Ross gives his thoughts and perspective on the issue.
FULL TRANSCRIPTION BELOW:
You are now listening to TheGrios black podcast network, black culture amplified. Hi, I’m Kevin Ross. And this is The Podcast. Has Hollywood Given Up on Diversity and Inclusion Already?
Right before our eyes, Wayne Brady, Kevin Frazier , Steve Harvey and yours truly are stepping into daytime’s glass slipper. Turns out it’s a good fit. Now, I wrote this article entitled “Black Men in Daytime Television” almost 10 years ago.
In it, I talked about how with cultural authenticity and stellar ratings, brothers seeking to master Oprah Winfrey’s legendary playbook have never been so well positioned.
I pointed out that once upon a time it was inconceivable that a man of color could ever rule the small screen.
In 1956 the iconic singer, Nat King Cole became the first major black performer to host and produce his own network series.
Despite the quality of the program, national advertising clients wouldn’t touch it. A representative of Max Factor Cosmetics claimed a negro couldn’t sell lipstick for them. Even public utilities like the telephone company refused to allocate dollars for the NBC show.
While the racism Nat King Cole experienced at the dawn of the civil rights era proved a harsh stringent, the 2008 election of Barack Obama as President of the United States created well, just the opposite effect. The result, this proliferation of black men with Kole and Obama swag who found their niche, right.
That was then, post the rise and subsequent stagnation of the Black Lives Matter movement as well as political attacks on all things woke, recent advances in the business of shows suddenly seem to have hit a wall.
Take this mass exodus of six prominent black women executives with senior leadership gigs across Hollywood just during the last few weeks.
Talk to me Warner Brothers Discovery, Netflix, Disney, the British Broadcasting Company and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Are you all just performing lip service when it comes to elevating more diverse folks into positions of influence or is this simply a fluke coincidence, coinkydink?
See here’s what’s up, four of the six black women oversaw equity and inclusion departments with a focus on corporate cultures and hiring. Now, poof they’re gone.
And variety magazine is reporting that even more black indigenous people of color executives will be joining their colleagues in the unemployment line.
When you add the cancellation of several shows with black leads and the CBS NAACP joint venture to create a pipeline for content that hasn’t seen one project move forward. A disturbing message begins to emerge.
Now this wasn’t the vibe in June of 2020 when the murder of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police horrified the country led to entertainment companies sharing these black squares on social media along with these commitments promising to do better.
And yet here we are 36 months later, grappling with the eradication of affirmative action in college admissions by the U.S. Supreme Court.
Are these same entities suddenly more emboldened to abandon these practices aimed at underrepresented communities? Let’s assume that’s the case. What’s the plan moving forward? Answer? Call it out and pull an Oprah?
Because by the time Oprah left daytime TV, in 2011, she had her Monday through Friday series and had created shows for Doctor Phil, Rachel Ray, Dr Oz, Nate Berkus, Iyanla Vanzant.
She then leaves broadcast television and starts her own cable network requiring even more content from the likes of Ava DuVernay and Tyler Perry.
So let’s pull a Tyler Perry, wanting more than just his 40 acres and a now he’s got 300 acres in Atlanta as owner of the largest film production studio in the United States.
Tyler is actually still in a competitive bidding war for B.E.T. with my boss Byron Allen. So I say pull a Byron, who in September of 2023 will have a minimum of 10 daytime syndicated shows in production. Nine court shows mine included and one game show. And they’re all hosted by people of color.
Before we pull a Spike Lee, we gotta pull an Oscar Micheaux, with 44 films to his credit, Micheaux became the most successful African American filmmaker of the first half of the 20th century.
We gotta pull a Shonda Rhimes whose works over almost two decades have brought us everything from Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal to How To Get Away With Murder and Bridgerton. Do we pull a Quinta Brunson who is eyeballs returning to network television through the comedic genius that we know as Abbott Elementary. Yes, of course, absolutely.
Because whether in front of or behind the camera, we keep coming. With every obstacle we find a way. When colleges and universities didn’t want black folks, we created HBCUs and many are still standing if not thriving.
As a product of one, I can give you my own testimony, but we digress. So, yes, Disney, it’s in your best interest to have a Black Little Mermaid in theaters and a Black Bachelorette on prime time TV.
And all those writers, directors, producers, crew and staff that help with your bottom line. And that goes for every facet of entertainment that secretly wants fairness and equity to quietly fall by the wayside.
This is not the time to stand down or retreat as Doctor Martin Luther King once said “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice”. And so it is onward, folks onward.
I’m Kevin Ross and this is The Podcast powered by TheGrio. Follow me @IamBossRoss on Instagram and Twitter. Thanks for listening. See you next time.
