After a history-making night on which a record-breaking number of black stars took home Oscars, actor George Takei is speaking out about the need for Hollywood to truly reflect diversity in America.
“We now live in the 21 century where the picture on the cinema screen should be in full color ― the rich spectrum of hues from yellow to brown to red,” Takei told The Huffington Post. “Black and white pictures are old history. We want to see the full diversity of America now on screen.”
The openly gay Japanese-American actor has been an outspoken figure when it comes to Hollywood’s diversity problem for some time, particularly on the subject of white-washing Asian characters.
At Sunday night’s Oscars, Dev Patel’s nomination made him only the third actor of Indian descent to ever receive an Oscar nomination out of over 1,500 nominations from throughout the years. Additionally, only sixteen Asian actors have received nominations throughout the history of the Oscars ― or roughly one percent of nominations in 89 years.
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