"Casting of white actor as Martin Luther King prompts outrage"

[Deleted]

http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2...sity?CMP=fb_gu

Casting of white actor as Martin Luther King prompts outrage from playwright

"The casting of a white actor as Martin Luther King in an Ohio university production of Katori Hall’s acclaimed play The Mountaintop was “a disservice to not just Dr King but an entire community”, the playwright has said.

Hall wrote an essay for the African American cultural website the Root on Monday about Kent State University’s production of her play, which dramatizes the night before King was assassinated in 1968.

Hall told the Guardian that director Michael Oatman’s decision to double-cast the six-show production with a black actor and a white actor as King went “deeper than just casting a white man in the role of MLK”.

“I just really feel as though it echoes this pervasive erasure of the black body and the silencing of a black community – theatrically and also, literally, in the world,” she said.

Oatman, who like Hall is black, said in a statement in August promoting the play that he chose a white actor for the production “to explore the issue of racial ownership and authenticity”.

“I didn’t want this to be a stunt, but a true exploration of King’s wish that we all be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin,” Oatman said. “I wanted the contrast … I wanted to see how the words rang differently or indeed the same, coming from two different actors, with two different racial backgrounds.”"

“With a playwright’s intention being dangerously distorted, Oatman’s experiment proved to be a self-serving and disrespectful directing exercise for a paying audience,” Hall wrote.

Since the Kent State University production ran, Hall has adjusted The Mountaintop’s licensing agreement to say: “Both characters are intended to be played by actors who are African-American or Black. Any other casting choice requires the prior approval of the author.”

[Ryme]

I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character.

Maybe next time, Martin.

[Templar 331]

With the number of college kids screaming "RACISM!!!" for other things how did anyone think this was a good idea?

[roflwaffle]

"Casting of white actor as Martin Luther King prompts outrage"

No shit lawl

[Venant]

“I didn’t want this to be a stunt, but a true exploration of King’s wish that we all be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin,” Oatman said. “I wanted the contrast … I wanted to see how the words rang differently or indeed the same, coming from two different actors, with two different racial backgrounds.”"

Its as if people want to use race as a wedge to drive people apart.

[Octa]

"Casting of white actor as Martin Luther King prompts outrage"

No shit lawl

As much as I hate "lawl" this sums up the situation perfectly lol

[Deleted]

I am so tired of the entire "race" debate in the US....

Grow up already.

[Hyve]

With the number of college kids screaming "RACISM!!!" for other things how did anyone think this was a good idea?

Who honestly cares about a few college kids screaming about something? These days everything is racist, everything is sexist, so these cries for attention are even more common then ever. No point changing your projects around for a few kids.

More to the point, what I find weird is that when a Black actor is cast in a traditionally White role (Think recent Comic Book Movies and such), it's all about how progressive we are, yet when it's reversed it's racism?

What, The, Actual, Fuck?

[Dextroden]

Okay. I'm laughing like an idiot, but this is equality. If idiots can be outraged by black Annie, idiots can be outraged by white MLK. All fair.

How was his actual performance?

[Deleted]

apparently black lives matter or something

[Pann]

More to the point, what I find weird is that when a Black actor is cast in a traditionally White role (Think recent Comic Book Movies and such), it's all about how progressive we are, yet when it's reversed it's racism?

What, The, Actual, Fuck?

Are you really comparing a comic book character to one of the most prominent figures in recent history?

[Hyve]

Are you really comparing a comic book character to one of the most prominent figures in recent history?

I'm comparing the casting of White & Black actors in Movies. Not the characters they're playing ...

[Deleted]

Diversity is a one sided coin.

[Pann]

I'm comparing the casting of White & Black actors in Movies. Not the characters they're playing ...

Are you aware that Martin Luther King was an actual real person and not a fictional comic book or movie character?

[JaceDraccus]

apparently black lives matter or something

Apparently the play actually had two guys playing King. One white and one black. Only the white guy was listed on the program.

That's how much black lives matter, apparently.

[Hyve]

Are you aware that Martin Luther King was an actual real person and not a fictional comic book or movie character?

Are you aware that has literally no relevance to my point ...

[Nyoken]

fucking people need to grow up

[Deleted]

Are you aware that Martin Luther King was an actual real person and not a fictional comic book or movie character?

Don't read them but I imagine you have a concept there for a bestselling comic. Hell, I'd probably buy that.

Worth pointing out that Gandhi was played by an english white guy (he has indian roots but you wouldn't know it to look at him) quite effectively.

[Asotcha]

"Casting of white actor as Martin Luther King prompts outrage"

No shit lawl

Lol, it is a bullshit move. I still remember all the sass when Tom Cruize got cast as the starring lead in The Last Samurai. On the Dave Chappelle show they made fun of it by saying there would be a movie titled "The Last Nigga on Earth' starring Tom Hanks.

EDIT!!! I didnt read teh whole post and didnt see that this was for a university production. I thought this was for a big scale hollywood movie. Yeah, people need to shut up about stuff like this on the smaller scale. Tumblr rage is the worst.

[Johnkie]

10/10 people would have been outraged if a black kid had been denied the possibility to play a white character.

So tired of all this "racism" or people bored out of their brains looking for anything to be pissed off about.