Kerry Washington And Aziz Ansari Say It’s Not Just Film; Every Industry Has A Diversity Problem
"Every industry is so white.'
Fresh from his win at the Peabody Awards, Aziz Ansari has sat down with Kerry Washington for one of Variety‘s ‘Actors on Actors’ videos. While these videos can sometimes turn into two actors needlessly stroking each other’s egos or speaking loudly over each other, Ansari and Washington’s sit down is very pithy.
The video teaser sees the two actors discuss #OscarsSoWhite, why more people of colour appear on TV than in film (Ansari thinks it’s because there are more people of colour running shows, to which Washington replies: “it’s not as precious in a way”) and Hollywood’s general diversity problem. Ansari mentions the New York Times story ‘The Faces of American Power’ which found that of the 503 people who run America’s culture, government, entertainment and business sectors, only 44 of them were minorities.
“It’s not just Hollywood,” Washington says. “Every industry is so white.”
When talking about Master of None, Ansari mentioned that he never really thought about his show being diverse. “We were just like, ‘Well this feels real’,” he says. He also talks about wanting to find more writers and actors of colour when he began work on Season Two. “It’s kind of the responsibility we have when we get to a certain place, to look out for people,” he says.
The talk premieres on Variety on June 12.