Social for the media, toxic in real

While #BlackLivesMatter trends on social media, many are being called out for the bigotry in their hearts

“Take note of colour bias around you,” says Malavika Mohanan CALLED OUT | LEA MICHELLE’S TWEET: “GEORGE FLOYD DID NOT DESERVE THIS. THIS WAS NOT AN ISOLATED INCIDENT AND IT MUST END. #BLACKLIVESMATTER.”

When Glee star Lea Michelle decided to lend her voice to the public outrage over the death of George Floyd, she didn’t realise she would be highlighting another important cause — hypocritical behaviour by racists and bullies like herself who choose to tweet their support for popular causes to gain publicity even as they conduct themselves despicably.

Lea’s tweet, “George Floyd did not deserve this. This was not an isolated incident and it must end. #BlackLivesMatter,” didn’t get the praise she probably expected because her former Glee co-star Samantha Ware, immediately hit back. “Remember when you made my first television gig a living hell? Cause I will never forget. I believe that you told everyone that if you had the opportunity you would ‘s.. in my wig! amongst other traumatic microaggressions that made me question a career in Hollywood,” Samantha tweeted to the actor.

Several other co-stars who worked with Lea in various shows have since been calling out Lea’s vile behaviour towards them.

While the actor has issued a lengthy apology and lost a brand partnership in the process, this just highlights how nobody is interested in correcting their behaviour until they are outed.

ANTI-RACISTS FOR PUBLIC CONSUMPTION!

Away from celeb platforms, other twitter users are also pointing out the double standards around them.

One Twitter use tweeted, “b... who bullied me in school for being ‘kali’ are now saying black lives matter on social media to sound cool!”

Most of us know somebody from school who was mercilessly bullied for his/her complexion. Not everyone is sick enough to abuse their position of power or kneel on someone’s neck in the name of restraining them and kill, but so many of us are guilty of prejudices, biases, casteist jokes and other unsavoury thought processes, which we get away with, because there are other likeminded people who feel it’s just as funny.

What makes matters worse, is that a majority learnt by example when they were never corrected because even their elders felt those belittling jokes were hilarious.

George Floyd, killed in police brutality in US

Samantha Ware

Priyanka Chopra: Priyanka Chopra has been outspoken about her earlier days in Bollywood and how directors often told makeup artists to apply more makeup to ‘give’ her fairer skin. Nandita Das: The Fire actress is one of the most vocal critics of Bollywood’s colour bias. Nandita had launched “India’s Got Colour” campaign in 2019, which addresses discrimination based on the skin colour. The actress has also talked about how news articles always mention her as ‘dark and dusky’ as if to qualify that she’s dark and yet an actor!

Tannishtha Chatterjee: In 2016, actress Tannishtha Chatterjee, winner of the National Award—Special Jury Award for her film, Dekh Indian Circus, appeared on an Indian comedy show to promote her film Parched. Instead, she was subjected to a bunch of offending jokes on her skin tone before she walked off the set and wrote a long Facebook post about the ‘bullying’ she experienced.

Frieda Pinto: The Slumdog Millionaire star has openly expressed her views about the auditioning process for films in India. The actress has also spoken about how she has backed out of many auditions when casting directors asked her to use fairness products, which she was completely against.