African-American actor Denzel Washington was the subject of executive emails that has a racist undertone. The matter at hand this time was, apparently, the notion that so-called “black” movies do not perform well outside of the United States, as a producer argued that the two-time Oscar winner shouldn’t be cast in movies that will play widely overseas, because of his race.
Sony has found itself in a PR nightmare following the hacking of their internet system. The scandal revealed a string of disturbingly racist thought and reasoning seen in many of the email exchanges that have since gone public featuring racist jokes about President Obama, and another about the trend of white celebrities like Angelina Jolie and Madonna adopting black babies.
According to the report on RadarOnline, the email thread in question (which apparently took place shortly after Sony released The Equalizer this fall) sees a producer whose name is blacked out in the messages say he or she hopes the idea isn’t “inappropriate or provocative,” but that black actors shouldn’t be considered for certain roles in order to widen those movies’ appeal in global markets he or she called “racist.”
The Equalizer grossed US$191 million globally, with 47% of ticket sales coming from outside of the U.S. Regardless, the email discussion suggested that the overseas take wasn’t good enough, arguing that other movies can expect 65% of box office sales from foreign audiences. And according to the mystery producer, the reason for the disparity was Washington’s blackness.
“I believe that the international motion picture audience is racist — in general pictures with an African American lead don’t play well overseas,” wrote the producer.
The racist e-mail thread was sent soon after Sony released Washington’s latest film The Equalizer, and was posted online by hackers who are demanding that the studio shelve the release The Interview, a comedy about the assassination of North Korea’s dictator. The released was ultimately suspended by Sony because according to them, there was no Cinema in the US willing to show the film.
