Racism and racial representation on soaps

[DramatistDreamer]

There is an overwhelming abundance of ignorance at every level in the soap industry, which explains so much about why the industry is basically at bottom-feeder status these days.

[Faulkner]

Tone-deaf. And this is a man who wrote a story about racial bias (well, it was for two seconds). He’s not engaging in the cultures he’s portraying at all. 

Edited August 14, 2020 by Faulkner

[titan1978]

He is absolutely tone deaf and willfully ignorant.  Why even say it, then get called out and respond that way?

 

As an aside- I will never understand how both he and Valentini treat LGBTQ characters on their shows. 

[ChitHappens]

 

I think it was an intentional jab, especially since Lamon spoke up about racism.  First moRon shows of his "black sharks matter" photo and now this.  He's always been a petty little kunt and nothing has changed.  

[Vizion]

Scott’s book also addressed a rift with Victoria Rowell, who played Drucilla Winters. In a lawsuit against Sony Pictures Television and CBS, Rowell claimed she was subjected to “various racially charged attacks,” including Scott mocking her by wearing an oversized Afro wig. The case was dismissed in 2017.

Scott recalled things differently, writing that there was a carnival set built for a few episodes of the show. She and few other show members, bored and goofing around on the “out-of-the-ordinary” set, found a bin of clown wigs and tried them on. She said they were “just giggling, pretending to be clowns” when Rowell appeared and went on an “angry tirade.” Scott said Rowell “thought I was making a statement about her hair because of the multi-colored Afro wig I was wearing and accused me of being a racist because of it.”

https://www.yahoo.com/amphtml/entertainment/young-restless-star-melody-thomas-scott-stabbing-clint-eastwood-almost-marcia-brady-135718836.html

 

[victoria foxton]

I never liked Ron. But WOW i'm speechless.  

[Lust4Life76]

I wish somebody had a copy of ONE LIFE TO LIVE's masquerade ball in 1981. First of all, you had Asa Buchanan dressed as Robert E. Lee...but yet, Sadie Gray was in attendance, and she went as the Statue of Liberty to counter him. 

[Vee]

Parts of the masquerade ball used to be on YT, IIRC. May still be.

[janea4old]

 

[SFK]

 

Excuse me, what??

[janea4old]

Chadwick Boseman's full commencement address at Howard University in 2018
was 36 minutes long.  Kamala Harris retweeted this 8-minute segment

which is all about Chadwick was hired and fired on All My Children
for the role of Reggie Porter (the character later adopted by Jackson Montgomery).

Almost all of these 8 minutes are about racial representation on TV/film, using AMC as an example.

 

I won't try to sum up what he says -- just listen, he says it so eloquently.

 

Note that he mentions the lack of specificity.

 

fyi, he mentions that he hopes that his questions to the producers about stereotyping helped to change the way the character would be written for the Black actor who replaced him. (He doesn't give the actor's name in this speech, but we know that the Black actor who replaced him in the role was Michael B. Jordan).

 

Here is the entire commencement speech, which gives context to why he spoke about his AMC experience:
 

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If you watch the whole youtube, there is more. he said he was sort of blackballed for a while because AMC had put out the word that he was "difficult".

 

Edited August 29, 2020 by janea4old

[Vee]

I'm pretty sure we posted the later discussion on this forum and possibly this thread that Boseman and Jordan had about AMC and Reggie not long ago as well.

[janea4old]

 

I figured it probably was mentioned already but I just joined here a few months ago.  I figured it was okay to post again even if already posted, because ... what he says in the full youtube is so deep about so many things (not just acting).

[Vee]

No, it's perfectly fine. The Jordan/Boseman convo is a different item. I wasn't saying you shouldn't post the above, I just know there's more to that story around here somewhere.

Edited August 29, 2020 by Vee

[Faulkner]

It was in the AMC Tribute Thread as well as the Where Are They Now?