*With #OscarsSoWhite currently a thing in Hollywood, every black celeb and their uncle is being asked to weigh in.
“The Birth of a Nation” costars Gabrielle Union and Nate Parker are the latest to be asked about diversity in Hollywood. E! News’ Marc Malkin hit them up at the Sundance Film Festival. Union said she thinks it’s “delusional” if people don’t see what’s right in front of them.
“I think Shonda Rhimes said it best. She said, ‘I’m not a trailblazer for casting my shows like reality,'” said the “Being Mary Jane” star. “Diversity isn’t brave. It’s not a fad. It’s reality…If you look around the room it’s pretty diverse, and everyone should have a place at the table.
“Those are just facts,” Union added.
Regarding the Academy’s recently-announced diversity plan set to take place by 2020, Union said it’s a great first step.
“Every step forward takes us further and further away from a very shameful past,” she explained, adding that it has to start with the executives. “I think if you see who runs Hollywood it’s a very homogeneous group and they like to see themselves reflected,” she said.
Watch below:
Parker, who also directed “Birth of a Nation,” said of the diversity issue: “It’s cultivation. I think diversity is more than a color palette. It’s a celebration of heritage and culture and that’s the one thing that we don’t do so often.”
He added, “We have all the tools to really promote celebrations of different types of people.”
Watch below:
Below, pics from their film “The Birth of a Nation,” about the slave rebellion led by Nat Turner:
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