Hollywood Diversity LA Times Cover OscarsSoWhite Debate

Photo: Neilson Barnard/Getty Images.

The conversation about diversity in Hollywood is coming from all angles — the lack of racial and ethnic diversity and gender diversity, to name a few — and how when power is concentrated, it leads to the kinds of industry-wide harassment and abuse that we are now reckoning with. Its's an important topic that is on everyone's minds, and hearing people relate to their own lives has been healthy, refreshing, and inspiring. The more we talk about these issues, the more we figure out solutions.

That said, there are going to be missteps. Actress and activist Rose McGowan admitted as much herself. And when those missteps occur, people are going to be compelled to speak out. Today, the Los Angeles Times unveiled the cover of their latest issue of The Envelope, their Hollywood and awards season magazine. It features six actresses: Saoirse Ronan, Margot Robbie, Diane Kruger, Annette Bening, Kate Winslet, and Jessica Chastain — all of whom are white. The Times' actors roundtable earlier this year included actors who are all white as well.

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Twitter immediately pounced on the Times cover as tone-deaf at best, and racist at worst. Users questioned why, in this moment of #MeToo (which was coined by Black activist Tarana Burke), at this time when the topic of diversity is so salient and potent, did the Times not consider racial diversity to be just as important?

There were jokes, of course, but the jokes serve to underpin a very serious point: no conversation about diversity can take place without inviting a diverse group to the table to speak.

i guess the redhead is the diversity offering?

hey, @LATimes, i can think of one way that we can "change the way many stories are told"...look up irony in the dictionary before you write your cover lines. pic.twitter.com/X2b7uTvzUn
— scott poulson-bryant (@SPBPHD) December 21, 2017

very impressed by their commitment to diversity by including a redhead pic.twitter.com/Be6oM1zcu9
— Dana Schwartz (@DanaSchwartzzz) December 22, 2017

The @latimes would like a “shift in focus in the way stories are told”. Can’t *quite* put my finger in what is missing from this diverse ensemble ?? pic.twitter.com/1YurQH2NDm
— Megha Mohan (@meghamohan) December 22, 2017

This is messy @latimes.......@theenvelope where are the WOC!? Representation matters, PICTURES ARE POWERFUL. #fail #toxicwhitefeminism pic.twitter.com/o399Kv9Dgq
— FreddieKruger (@FreddieKruger18) December 22, 2017

Come on, @latimes, do we really need to have this conversation AGAIN: Daniel Kaluuya, Denzel Washington, Tiffany Haddish, Hong Chau, Mary J Blige, Salma Hayek, Octavia Spencer, Jason Mitchell, Idris Elba. pic.twitter.com/2vc94nkwxU
— Peter Knegt (@peterknegt) December 22, 2017

Yo @latimes I admire these actresses for sure, but y'all are a publication in a city where 1 in every 2 residents is Latinx. In the year 2017, ya could've put @ava @IssaRae @violadavis @AmericaFerrera @LenaWaithe ...didn't have to be all of 'em but what about just ONE. #tonedeaf pic.twitter.com/953bnkITUl
— Anthony Ocampo (@anthonyocampo) December 22, 2017

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