How POC Screw Up Our Actors' Careers...

...and by Extension, Ourselves

I can't be a hypocrite, guys.  *shrugs* I can't sweetly and patiently suggest white folks self-examine individually and communally, and not suggest the same for us.  With that out the way, we can properly begin.

My dearest fellow people of color, all of whom I honestly love and adore: stop fucking with our actors' careers.

I initially intended to leave black men off my blog in the realm of entertainment (not social issues, FYI).  Black men get plenty of love in the entertainment arena and have been very successful in Hollywood--yes, I said it.  Because when you compare black men's accomplishments in music, dance, and film to those of women of color and men of other colors, black men have done well.

But...I was thinking about how His Royal Sexy Chocolateyness Blair Underwood refused to play a bisexual...for reasons all us richly melanin-gifted folks know good & well, and for which we should be very, very ashamed.  Just for this, I'm marching right over to Netflix and putting Noah's Arc in my queue so I can better talk smack about it being canceled.  Two seasons and a movie is not enough, especially not when I'm hearing so much good shit about this show.

Anyhoo...let's try this again.  Heath Ledger played a bisexual man who got graphically sexual with another man.  Yes, it was very controversial.  Yes, it made considerable waves.  And yes, Ledger's career soared.  It earned him the respect of white heteros and homosexuals alike.  His fan base expanded, and suddenly everybody in Hollywood wanted to work with him.  You think the gay male community wouldn't mind seeing Underwood get under another man?  You think if he did it on the big screen the community wouldn't come out en-friggin'-masse and pay top dollar to see that shit?

Which brings me back to another thing.  It's rumored one virile and smoldering singer/actor from Korea refrained from getting intimately physical with a certain dark English dame for fear of alienating fans at home.  Meanwhile, His Closeted Highness and absolutely beloved Mo Prince Zachary gay-as-Christmas-in-Bloomingdale's Quinto locked lips with a Blacktina (much to the wrath of some).  But now, not only does he have the cult-like worship from nerds of all ages, but women of color everywhere are starting to pay much closer attention to him.  On Heroes, his character Sylar suddenly went from being "fairly doable" to "must-have-sex-with-him-right-the-hell-now"-able.

Now...I'm well aware the pink white privilege elephant in the room is trying to lift its bloated head and say something.  It's clearing its grimy throat in dramatically condescending preparation to tell us things we've heard countless times before.  So while it's busy doing that, I think now would be a perfect time for all POC to tell it to shut the fuck up.

Believe it or not kids, some stereotypes are self-inflicted.  Black folks shouldn't have taken this long to start skateboarding--we shouldn't have branded it "white" in the first place!  Black folks shouldn't have taken so long to admit to liking Nirvana.  Black women shouldn't have taken this long--as a group--to start considering non-black men as potential mates.  We denied ourselves these opportunities and pleasures, so we can't bitch when this type of abstinence comes back to bite us in the ass.  Because when we deny ourselves these simple things, that's not someone taking our power from us--that's us giving it up.  And that's precisely what we do when we tell our own actors, "Don't do this, don't portray that...it doesn't matter if the script's well-written and your character's a good person and the character they want you to be with is a good person and also well-written--just don't do it, don't do it, don't do it!"

This attitude is wrong and counterproductive.

Asian actors trying to make it big in Hollywood--especially our fine-ass brethren from distant shores--shouldn't hesitate to get nekkid with an earthy-looking love interest.  In Western cinema [read: American], gay or straight, the leading man gets laid.  He gets his, okay?  See, in America, we treat our actors like strippers; you want make that money, you better show some skin...and you'll make double if you press your skin against someone else's in a very NSFW kinda way, hear me?  And no, my Asian brothers, it won't hurt you.  I mean, you don't see James Kyson Lee complaining (hint hint)!  Shit, you don't hear John Cho whining about a damn thing!

Let's take a stroll down Memory Roll into the Dark Ages of Blasian History, shall we?  'Twas a mighty awful pox, that was.  According to ancient legend, Jet Li's kiss with Aaliyah was cut (supposedly) because it was screened before an army of selfish Negroes.  Kinfolk, can we level for a minute here?  Seriously, y'all; had the male lead been black and the female lead Chinese, I'd bet my brand new Hyundai Romeo Must Die would've had a kiss--shoot, more than that!

Now, see...Mr. Jet I-can-whoop-the-dogshit-outta-all-y'all Li should've strolled into that screening room and put it to them stingy niggas straight: "Check it out, bruhs: me and Miss Thang?  We lockin' lips and ain't no two ways about it.  If this don't sit well wit'chu, then you can go on and do what you do best: dry yo tears on some blonde hair and just let Asian men. Handle.  Our.  Business--we know where it's at."  And black women will not mind (girl wasn't lyin'; as you saw, dude is sexy as hell).

My point, POC, is when we support our actors' careers, by extension, we support one another.  We can look onscreen and see ourselves hugging, kissing, loving one another, working together and getting past beef we don't even really have.  The pointless in-fighting and discrimination aren't luxuries we have out in here in the White, White West anyhow.  Besides, it ain't like the result of our cooperation will be a bad thing, am I right?