Discover Top American-Made Products!
Support local craftsmanship with these high-quality, American-made items—shop now on Amazon!
Shop NowRecent reports that Hollywood has implemented new diversity and inclusion guidelines for the Academy Awards next year have caused a stir amongst many prominent figures in the film industry, including the 1978 Best Actor winner Richard Dreyfuss.
When asked by PBS anchor Margaret Hoover what he thought of these new standards, Dreyfuss responded with strong words – saying they made him “vomit”.
Actor Richard Dreyfuss says Hollywood’s new inclusivity standards make him want to vomit. Good. More actors, directors and producers need to speak up. Not all great stories are diverse. Not all true stories are diverse. Forced diversity hurts everyone.
pic.twitter.com/UhU0htJdo3— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) May 7, 2023
The new guidelines that are being implemented by Hollywood involve films needing to meet certain criteria in terms of diversity and representation in order to be eligible for awards at the Oscars, such as having two out of four lead actors or key creative roles be of an underrepresented gender, race or ethnicity.
They also include a requirement for outreach programs aimed at encouraging more diversity in filmmaking.
Dreyfuss had some very strong words when responding to Hoover’s question about what he thought of these new standards – saying that they make him “vomit”.
He argued that it should not be up to someone else to dictate what morality is when it comes to art, nor should any group in society receive special treatment or catered to in this way.
He brought up Lawrence Olivier’s acclaimed performance as Othello in 1965 which was particularly controversial due to Oliver wearing blackface during his performance – something which has been strongly criticized since then.
However, Dreyfuss argued that no one should be told they cannot play a certain role because of their race or religion; after all, shouldn’t art just be art?
‘Jaws’ star Richard Dreyfuss slams new Oscars diversity rules https://t.co/w0ItxSFEqu pic.twitter.com/E2u3Qv3ELF
— New York Post (@nypost) May 7, 2023
