Viola Davis, Michael B. Jordan Among 300+ Black Artists Demanding Change in Hollywood with Powerful Open Letter

As we previously reported, some of entertainment’s biggest Black stars and executives joined forces to demand more representation in front of and behind the scenes of Hollywood.

Now, the list reads over 300 signatures long!

More inside:

Spearheaded by ‘Insecure’ star Kendrick Sampson, the movement is powered by the BLD PWR initiative and called upon the likes of Viola Davis, Michael B. Jordan, Janelle Monáe, Idris Elba, Billy Porter, Queen Latifah, Chadwick Boseman, Sanaa Lathan, La La Anthony, Larenz Tate, Laverne Cox, Keith Powers, Mekhi Phifer, and other powerful Black Hollywood figures to sign an open letter demanding change in the entertainment industry.

The letter, headlined “Hollywood 4 Black Lives,” seeks to “prove that Black Lives Matter to Hollywood by taking bold moves to affirm, defend and invest in Black lives.”

“Hollywood has a privilege as a creative industry to imagine and create. We have significant influence over culture and politics. We have the ability to use our influence to imagine and create a better world,” the letter begins. “Yet, historically and currently, Hollywood encourages the epidemic of police violence and culture of anti-Blackness.”

Asserting a need for systemic change in Hollywood with regard to racism, discrimination, and representation, the letter particularly shines light on the mistreatment of Black women.

“The lack of a true commitment to inclusion and institutional support has only reinforced Hollywood’s legacy of white supremacy. This is not only in storytelling. It is cultural and systemic in Hollywood,” the letter continues. “Our agencies, which often serve as industry gatekeepers, don’t recruit, retain or support Black agents. Our unions don’t consider or defend our specific, intersectional struggles. Unions are even worse for our below-the-line crew, especially for Black women. Hollywood studios and production companies that exploit and profit from our stories rarely have any senior-level Black executives with greenlighting power.”

The letter’s five core pillars rest on the following ideals:

Hollywood should divest from police (“Commit to no police on sets or events or for any other purposes”)

divest from anti-Black content

invest in anti-racist content

invest in Black people’s careers by giving more power and financial resources to Black artists and executives

invest in the Black community, including Black-owned businesses

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Click here to read it in full.

[main photo source:  Getty Images/WENN/Shutterstock/FilmMagic]

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