Hollywood is falling victim to its relentless virtue-signaling
During the 1930s and 1940s, there were many genuine communists, as well as fellow travelers, working in Hollywood. Once the Cold War began, Hollywood turned against those people and instituted its blacklist, which made it impossible for anyone with communist sympathies to work openly in Hollywood.
Of late, the farther left you lean in Hollywood, the more you are to be applauded. That's why it's incredibly ironic to realize that Hollywood is once again blacklisting people — only this time, blacklisting means that the only people listed for employment have to be black.
That at least is the story that Caroline Graham tells in the Daily Mail. According to Graham, the message has gone out in Hollywood that if you want to work, you had better not be white:
A revolution is under way. White actors are being fired. Edicts from studio bosses make it clear that only minorities — racial and sexual — can be given jobs.
A new wave of what has been termed by some as anti-white prejudice is causing writers, directors and producers to fear they will never work again. One described the current atmosphere as 'more toxic than Chernobyl', with leading actors afraid to speak out amid concern they will be labelled racist.
The first sign came with one of the most powerful black directors in Hollywood, Oscar-winning Jordan Peele — the man behind box office hits such as Get Out and Us — stated in public that he did not want to hire a leading man who was white.
'I don't see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie,' Peele said. 'Not that I don't like white dudes. But I've seen that movie before.'
As one studio executive responded privately: 'If a white director said that about hiring a black actor, their career would be over in a heartbeat.' Few doubt it.
Peele is more vocal than most about his hiring policy, but his outlook is increasingly widespread. Dozens of producers, writers and actors have spoken to The Mail on Sunday about the wave of 'reverse racism' pulsing through the industry.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the executive confirmed that the climate is now toxic for any 'white, middle-aged man in showbusiness'. Their careers, 'are pretty much over'.
They continued: 'We're only hiring people of colour, women or LGBT to write, star, produce, operate the cameras, work in craft services. If you are white, you can't speak out because you will instantly be branded 'racist' or condemned for 'white privilege'.
Graham explains that in a town buzzing with buzzwords, the newest one is "Bipoc," which refers to "Black, Indigenous, and People of Color." Those are the good guys and gals (and "its" if you want to bring in the transgender). Meanwhile, the enemy is the "Menemy," which refers to a white, male person who has the temerity to think he can still be employed simply because he has the skills and talent to do the job.
Jordan Peele isn't the only one openly admitting to bias in hiring. Ava DuVernay, a powerful black woman who directed the excrescence called A Wrinkle in Time, which destroyed every vestige of Madeleine L'Engle's book of the same name, has also opened herself up to lawsuits for hiring discrimination:
Selma director Ava DuVernay, now one of the most powerful black women in Hollywood, wrote on Twitter: 'Everyone has a right to their opinion. And we — black producers with hiring power — have the right not to hire those who diminish us.
'So, to the white men in this thread… if you don't get that job you were up for, kindly remember… bias can go both ways. This is 2020 speaking.'
During Hollywood's first blacklisting exercise in the 1950s, communists and fellow travelers were able to work only by using assumed names. Now they have to disappear even more. Graham reports that one white executive was allowed to oversee an all-minority project ("great new talent," only "they don't know the basics"), provided that her name did not appear anywhere on the project.
While I'm sorry for the ordinary people behind the scenes who are suffering because of this new blacklist, I'm delighted to see Hollywood's preachy leftists get a taste of their own medicine. The #MeToo madness left most of them unscathed, but it looks as if this latest round of leftism will finally make them see what it's like if you're truly responsible for something and have to pay the consequences:
It will be interesting to see whether the new crop of Bipoc talents, both behind and in front of the camera, are able to create products that attract audiences. Otherwise, the new blacklists will plunge Hollywood into the red, ending a hundred years of dominating American entertainment. Given how Hollywood has relentlessly been pushing leftist indoctrination onto America's young people, its passing, if it happens, may be for the best.
Image: YouTube screen grab.