Issa Rae feels there is still diversity problem in Hollywood projects
It’s 2021 and Hollywood still has an inclusion problem. Actor-director Issa Rae has recently spoken out against the issue of lack of diversity in American films and shows.
In an interview with Mic, Issa took a stroll down memory lane and recalled how a former co-worker once told her to always include a white character in her TV shows, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
“She was just like, ‘Girl, if you want this s**t to set off to the next level, you got to put a white character in there, then white people will care about it, then NPR is going to write about your s**t, and it’ll blow up,” Issa said.
Issa took her advice seriously and added a white character to the cast of Awkward Black Girl before it was released in 2011. She once again heeded the advice when she developed Insecure, which in its early seasons featured the character Freida, a white woman and co-worker of Issa Dee’s.
According to the publication, early iterations of the show heavily featured the character and raised the question about whether Freida should be more heavily included so white viewers could connect.
“And I was like, F**k no! This is not a show about Freida. That was when I started actively resisting. When Issa quit work and we got rid of the We Got Y’all storyline, I realised, ‘Oh my gosh, our show is just about Black characters now in the most refreshing way’”.
She (a was co-worker) just like, you ‘Girl, if this s**t want next to set level, off to the you got a white to put character in there.’ ISSA RAE, Actor-director