Michael B. Jordan urges hiring more black actors in Hollywood

LOS ANGELES: Actor Michael B. Jordan delivered a passionate speech during a ‘Black Lives Matter’ rally in which he urged Hollywood executives to commit to more black hiring.

“You committed to a 50/50 gender parity in 2020, where is the challenge to commit to black hiring?” he asked. “Black content led by black executives, black consultants. Are you policing our storytelling as well? Let us bring our darkness to the light.”

The ‘Black Panther’ star has committed to making the entertainment industry more diverse, announcing in 2018 that his company would adopt inclusion riders for all upcoming projects. An inclusion rider refers to a clause in an actor’s contract that allows them to set the diversity requirements for a cast and crew before signing on to production.

The concept was introduced during Frances McDormand’s Best Actress Oscar speech the same year, but Jordan in his address expressed his belief that it has to go beyond.

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During his address, Jordan expressed that it has to go beyond that. “Anybody that deals with me, if you have racist beliefs, if you have a racist bone in your body, if you’re not with me, if you don’t stand with me and people that look like me, you don’t need to be with me,” he added. “I use my power to demand diversity but it’s time that studios and agencies do so.”

The 33-year-old added that the fight for inclusion must continue beyond the recent protests demonstrations that have swept the nation in the wake of George Floyd’s killing.

Jordan’s breakout film role was in Ryan Coogler’s 2013 drama ‘Fruitvale Station’ which chronicles the final days of Oscar Grant, an unarmed black man who was killed by a police officer in 2009.

The plea for inclusivity comes after Josh Trank, who directed him in 2015’s Fantastic Four, claimed in a recent interview that studio heads shut down his attempts to cast a black actress in the role of Sue Storm for a film.