*Regina King is not happy with Hollywood. The award winning actress is so perturbed about the lack of inclusion of blacks and people of color at the recent Emmy awards that she wrote an open letter to Huffington Post to say so.
Oh yeah, King, 39, also points out how Rutina Wesley, the twenty something actress from HBO’s “True Blood,” was misidentified her. Duh. She was not amused.
Since the Emmy ceremony, I have been going back and forth about whether or not I should compose this letter. I try hard in my daily life not to engage in uncomfortable situations regarding race.
But sometimes it’s very difficult to find other reasons that better explain why certain events play out the way they do. It is impossible for me to ignore the published statistics regarding the number of people of color mentioned, celebrated or honored in the history of the televised Emmys.
Up to and including this year, there have been only 53 non-white actors nominated for Emmys out of nearly 1,000 possible nominations in the top four acting categories for drama and comedy.
Read the rest of Regina King’s letter HERE.
Re’ you in the system, make something work, or get with Tyler..your constituents ARE the problem
That shit won’t make a difference. What needs to happen is that black actors & actresses need to accept that The Emmys are geared towards white folk. Stop support the shit & stop whining about it! I think black folk in Hollywood need to get on the same page & start doing more for themselves instead of count so much on the acceptance of the white folk there.
What else is new???
what else is new. come on’ re u been n the game 2 long. this doesn’t even surprise me nemore. yt folk gonna b yt folk. it’s like expecting a dog not 2 ish n ur yard. i ain’t even mad at em. i’m mad @ blk folk 4 not doing what they need 2 do. said it b4 and will say it again….it’s 2 many black folk w/ money. make ur on ish. create a blackywood. hell the indians got bollywood. we always waiting on damn yt folk 2 b free! free ur damn selves.
I agree with you. We have way too many mega multi-millionaire actors, athletes, singers, etc to keep looking to white folk to make things happen for us or to treat us fairly in the film industry. The problem with all of these folk is that they are too busy pooling their money with white folk or blowing it on bullshit that makes white folk even richer. Black folk have seem to have the inability to come together & build something bigger than a few grease-bucket restaurants or over-priced clothing stores. But as long as the likes of Michael Jordan, Bill Cosby, Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods, Jay-Z, Beyonce, etc, etc, etc keep on either being for self or feeling only comfortable with putting their monies in on deals with white folk well keep on hear folk like Regina King bitch & moan about how unfair this & that is. There is no reason why there is not one black owned mega-film production AND distribution company in Hollywood right now! The words “black” & “conglomerate” must scare the shit out of wealthy black folk because they obviously run from the concept!
A “Girlfriends” series is good enough to run for 8 seasons, not nary 1 nomination during the entire run.
If white people were truly honest with themselves, they would acknowledge their white privilege and simply say they are not giving it up without a fight…..you could at least sorta respect that. But don’t patronize us and think that we are not aware of how unfair the entire process has been since jumpstreet. But that would require honesty.
While Regina ain’t sayin anythin new its obvious she has reached boiling point. I totally understand her frustration. Speaking out against hollywood is normally considered career suicide but there’s only so much one can take. From time to time I would look out for black nominations during awards season and I too was disappointed when I saw the nom list. This is why I respect the grammys (heck even the people’s choice awards), beacuse they give credit where credit is due.
I don’t even watch the emmys. Show is boring as shit and rarely, if ever have any folk of color, even if there was an emmy worthy show.
Neither do I, Mothership – I don’t even blink at that show anymore……
I totally agree, it is a v boring show. I never watch it live, I may record it when black folks are on (and actually win) just to watch their acceptance speeches, overall I may watch the show for 6 mins max and fast forward the rest.
There may be folks in hollywood who may think its no big deal if WE don’t get oscars, Emmys, SAGS etc, I beg to differ. When folks are continually overlooked despite putting out quality work, it can be disheartening. Sure there’s a fair number of us putting out our own shows/films and WE have our own award shows but at the end of the day its not the same. Some of our people don’t even bother showing up to pick up their awards at our own shows. Let it be the oscars, Emmys etc, they’ll leave their film sets from the other end of the world to be all on the red cardpet with Ryan Seacrest. Lookin back, even when UPN had all those black shows THEY were still not showing us any love come award season. Its like Bartholomew said above, THEY are not giving it up without a fight. Sigh….
Why are we worried about white folks? The important color is green. If Black people with money would finance Black filmakers to make quality films that Black people would support then the problem goes away and the Regina Kings of the world would work as much as they like. But don’t expect me to spend my hard-earned on “The Lottery Ticket” and foolishness like that just in the name of supporting Black actors and actresses.
I don’t think it s about “worrying about” White people! “I” think…it s the issue of how Blacks are NOT respected & are PURPOSELY overlooked,disrespected,underpaid, etc….! And if the “Regina Kings” of the world don’t expose this long overdue B.S.!? peeps will continue to act like they don’t know & it’s…new! And?…we have to realize that Blacks with money/, are not alloooooowed to “do” shyt & are threatened to “stay in their place”! And Blacks don’t oown any distribution co. and “that” is ANOTHER discriminating issue! See….it s deeper than Us not supporting …”Us”! But, I do agree with you about that B.S. you mentioned (movies like Lottery Ticket, & others). And/But “that” B.S. is greenlit over good Black movies to continuuuuuue the B.S.! Dem mo foes in H-town greenlight B.S. movies/TV shows so they will have “justification” to NOT put on more or better Black shows! Meanwhile?, a Black actor has to….eat & have to take the B.S. the rappers didn’t take! Like after all the White peeps they gotta compete against?, now…rappers!! & “that” shyt is designed to furrrrrrther box out Black actors! The shyt is Fked UP, yo & most don’t even take the time to objectively see WTF is & has been going on! So…”I” think? the Regina Kings” of the world are VERY….neccessary! No dis, just another point of view.
WTF do sooooo many “say” they “dpwn” but when someone ELSE has the balls to speak out or do some ehyt?, mo foes criticise then one who DID the heroric deed!? W….T….F…..!???? Like…WTF are Black people g’on reeeeeeally have our OWN…..back!?? SDMF!!!!!