Brie Larson says she doesn’t hate “white dudes,” she just doesn’t think they should review every movie.
The Kong: Skull Island actress, who won an Oscar for her performance in the 2015 film Room, used an acceptance speech at an awards gala Wednesday to address the lack of diversity among movie critics.
“I’d like to bring to light an aspect of our industry that has risen to the surface in the last week,” Larson said on stage at the Women in Film Crystal + Lucy Awards in Beverly Hills, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “This issue has a solution that each one of us in this room can participate in.”
The actress was referring to a study released Monday by the University of Southern California’s Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, which said the nation’s film critics are overwhelmingly white and male.
“I don’t need a 40-year-old white dude to tell me what didn’t work about A Wrinkle in Time,” Larson continued while accepting the Crystal Award for Excellence in Film. “It wasn’t made for him! I want to know what it meant to women of color, biracial women, to teen women of color, to teens that are biracial.”
At last night's #CrystalLucys, @BrieLarson emphasized the need for more underrepresented critics. Gatekeepers, get them into press screenings! Check out @femalecritics, @BlackGirlNerds and our own Ashley Chrisman! pic.twitter.com/YQLNlqg3WE
— WIF (@WomenInFilm) June 14, 2018
ABC president Channing Dungey and actress Alexandra Shipp were also honored at the event.
Larson went on to say her comments were not about hate, but inclusion.
“Am I saying I hate white dudes? No, I am not,” she added. “What I am saying is if you make a movie that is a love letter to women of color, there is an insanely low chance a woman of color will have a chance to see your movie, and review your movie.”
The USC report, titled “Critic’s Choice?”, examined a total of 19,559 reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and found 77.8% were written by men, while female critics authored 22.2% of reviews.
Of the reviews counted, 82% were written by Caucasian critics, while 18% were authored by people from “underrepresented racial/ethnic backgrounds.”
