Matt Damon argued with a black film producer about diversity during the season premiere of his show “Project Greenlight,” a series designed to help inexperienced filmmakers.
On Sunday night’s episode, Damon and Effie Brown are discussing a script when Brown argued that filmmakers should be diverse so characters are accurately portrayed. Brown, who directed “Dear White People,” complains that the female character is “the only black person” in this script and is “a hooker who gets hit by her white pimp.”
“I just would want to urge people to think about who this character is,” Brown said. (RELATED: Kanye West Compares Being A Celebrity To Racism)
“We brought up to each other,” Damon said. “When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show.”
“Hoo!” Brown responds. “Wow, okay.”
Damon later argued that the directing team should be chosen on skill, not the color of their skin, because otherwise “you would undermine what the competition is supposed to be about.” (RELATED: PBS Series Suspended After It Censored Ben Affleck’s Slave-Owning Heritage)
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