Kerry Washington and Aziz Ansari told reporters that it’s not just Hollywood that is “so white” but every industry, including TV.
On Wednesday, the two actors told Variety reporters during an actors series with PBS that TV is just as guilty as Hollywood in failing to improve their diversity.
“I feel like everybody’s talked so much about how there’s more diversity on TV than in film,” Washington said. “I don’t understand why. Do you?” the “Scandal” star asked Ansari. (RELATED: Ludacris Just Mocked The Oscar’s Diversity Problem)
“I don’t know,” Ansari responded. “If I had to guess I feel like there’s more diverse creators.”
“Our show, it’s Indian guy, Asian guy, so there’s going to be more Indian people, Asian people,” he added. “We have a diverse group of friends and we didn’t even really think about it when we were making the show that ‘oh this is diverse.’ We were just like this feels real.”
“I saw this chart in the New York Times about like decision makers — the gatekeepers in every single industry — and it was like all white people,”Ansari continued.
Hollywood has been accused of “lacking diversity” in the Oscar’s nomination process in 2015 and 2016. It resulted in a boycott by several actors and one film director this year. There was also a movement that started in social media with the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite in response.
“It came out after #OscarsSoWhite and I loved that they did it because there was all this attention on Hollywood but it was like no no no, every industry is so white,” Washington added.