“Never stop speaking out, never accept the distortions, never accept the lies & never give up”
I don’t know if any of you caught the several BBC interviews with Denzel Washington last week…the main concern, naturally, was that the Oscars were too ‘white’…aren’t they?
Amusingly Washington completely dismissed that line of thought pointing out that he has been nominated 8 times and has won two Oscars. He said if it ain’t on the page it ain’t on the stage…meaning Black actors, writers and directors had to start producing, and producing good stuff, not relying on reverse racism, positive discrimination, to get their work produced and seen. He, and many others, is proof that if you’re good enough the awards and the money will come. He said the fact that last year’s Oscars were so white was mere chance and not conspiracy.
BBC interviewers must have gone away very disappointed, no gold star from the boss after failing to tick that box.
Why do ‘actors’ think they’re so important?
I couldn’t give a cuss about what any of them think or say; they’re not really interesting enough for me. People like them are only mildly interesting to folk who need to be ‘entertained’.
Even though he just an actor and I too couldn’t care less what he thinks, evenso I’m pleased with what he says because I like him as an actor and have enjoyed his films and wouldn’t want my enjoyment of his films too be marred by commie crap.
Even though he’s just an actor and I too couldn’t care less what he thinks, evenso I’m pleased with what he says because I like him as an actor and have enjoyed his films and wouldn’t want my enjoyment of his films too be marred by commie crap.
Good for Denzel Washington. Another straight talking and independently minded actor is Morgan Freeman; I recommend you look for his interviews on YouTube. One of my favourite quotes from him came on a show where ‘African Americanism’ was being discussed. He said something along the lines of being surprised because only last week he found out he was African. Priceless.
Tonight BAFTA will award its fellowship to Mel Brooks. The bBBC doesn’t mention this on its website. Oh how much I hope he talks about Blazing Saddles, which is included in his BAFTA citation: Brooks’ ground-breaking third feature film, Blazing Saddles (1974), starring Gene Wilder, Cleavon Little and Madeline Kahn, received two BAFTA nominations for Screenplay and Most Promising Newcomer (Cleavon Little) and three Oscar nominations.
On BBC breakfast, 9 Feb,Charlie Stayt was interviewing Denzel about the Fences movie, but just happened to slip in a question about Donald Trump. Denzel didn’t bite and sort of left good old Charlie a bit red faced. Brilliant…
There have always been talented black men and women in entertainment. Granted, it took a while for them to be in leading cinematic roles, but they have been since the 1960s.
What I tend to find is that there are usually some talented black people plugging away behind the scenes, usually fairly conservative politically, who don’t play the race card, so the grievance industry ignores them. The late comedian Charlie Williams is one example. He made fun of his race sometimes, but in essence he was a typical northern music hall ‘turn’.
In politics, take for example Condoleeza Rice and General Colin Powell. If they had been on the left, they would never have been off the air and would have been in the pantheon of the gods, like the sainted Obama, who wasn’t even fully black!