Diaspora wars — those recurring fights over identity and ownership among the global Black community — are never pretty and they’re rarely necessary. But the latest battle feels particularly wasteful.
American comedian Druski reignited a familiar debate recently when he released a skit satirizing Hollywood for casting Black British actors in stereotypical African American parts. In it, Druski plays an English thespian who shifts between the roles of an enslaved American and a modern-day gangster, only to jarringly return to a British accent moments after a director yells, “cut.”
In the days since the skit was released, people across social media have once again lambasted Hollywood execs for filling the roles of African American icons with Black people who use the Celsius scale. As Samuel L. Jackson did in 2017, many other Black Americans argue that those performers shouldn’t play African American roles that revolve around race relations. Others say those actors are pantomiming the lived experiences of Black Americans and that by taking these roles, they are stripping away what few parts are available to Black men and women born and raised in the U.S..
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