{"id":17317,"date":"2014-12-24T08:57:05","date_gmt":"2014-12-24T06:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/praag.org\/?p=17317"},"modified":"2014-12-24T08:57:05","modified_gmt":"2014-12-24T06:57:05","slug":"international-movie-audiences-racist-leaked-sony-email","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praag.org\/?p=17317","title":{"rendered":"International movie audiences ‘racist’ – leaked Sony email"},"content":{"rendered":"

An unnamed producer wrote in an email to Sony chairman Michael Lynton that films with black actors \u2014 using Denzel Washington in The Equalizer as an example \u2014 don\u2019t perform well because the international audiences are \u201cracist,\u201d according to documents found in the Sony hack.<\/p>\n

The producer suggested that the two-time Oscar winner should not star in big-budget films as the international audience will not accept him in a leading role because of his race.<\/p>\n

\"Denzel<\/a>
Denzel Washington in ‘The Equalizer’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI believe that the international motion picture audience is racist \u2014 in general pictures with an African American lead don\u2019t play well overseas. When Sony made Equalizer they had to know that Denzel opens pics domestically, however the international gross would be somewhat limited,\u201d the producer wrote in an Oct. 27 e-mail.<\/p>\n

Lynton wrote back asking if he was saying The Equalizer \u201cshouldn\u2019t have been made or that African American actors should be excluded?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, I am not saying \u2018The Equalizer\u2019 should not have been made or that African American actors should not have been used (I personally think Denzel is the best actor of his generation),\u201d the producer responded. \u201cCasting him is saying we\u2019re ok with a double if the picture works,\u201d the producer wrote, using a baseball analogy.<\/p>\n

Washington is \u201creliable at the domestic [box office], safe, but has not had a huge success in years. I believe whenever possible the non event pictures, extra \u2018bets\u2019 should have a large inherent upside and be made for the right price. Here there isn\u2019t a large inherent upside,\u201d the producer wrote.<\/p>\n

The producer also wrote that he or she hoped the statement wasn\u2019t \u201cinappropriate or provocative.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Equalizer grossed about $191 million worldwide. Approximately $90 million was earned overseas. The producer said this figure would have been higher if a black man wasn\u2019t in the lead role.<\/p>\n

According to the emails, a sequel to the movie was set for 2017, but would be \u201ca double, with a remote chance of a home run.\u201d<\/p>\n

Calls to Denzel Washington\u2019s publicist were not immediately returned. – buzzfeed.com<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An unnamed producer wrote in an email to Sony chairman Michael Lynton that films with black actors \u2014 using Denzel Washington in The Equalizer as an example \u2014 don\u2019t perform well because the international audiences are \u201cracist,\u201d according to documents found in the Sony hack. The producer suggested that the two-time Oscar winner should not … Continue reading “International movie audiences ‘racist’ – leaked Sony email”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2961,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[422,3,10],"tags":[10769,10771,9463,65,157,10770,10772],"class_list":["post-17317","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-culture","category-news","category-united-states","tag-denzel-washington","tag-leaked-emails","tag-movies","tag-race","tag-racism","tag-sony","tag-the-equalizer"],"cc_featured_image_caption":{"caption_text":false,"source_text":false,"source_url":false},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2961"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17317"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17320,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17317\/revisions\/17320"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/praag.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}