“CBS Diversity Comedy Showcase Has Been a Racist, Sexist, Homophobic Mess for Years, Participants Say”
“From demanding that black actors participate in sketches about slaves to asking Latina actresses to “slut it up” to body-shaming both men and women, Najera and Fern Orenstein, the showcase’s producer and casting director, who is also CBS’s vice-president of casting, repeatedly defied the program’s primary purpose, the participants unanimously agreed…
Although the L.A. comedy community has openly discussed what the participants describe as the showcase’ reductive sketches and tokenizing of people of color for years, it took an unlikely advocate to call attention to it at CBS. After living in Los Angeles for seven years and hearing about the program from her peers at Upright Citizens Brigade and other corners of the comedy scene, Crazy Ex-Girlfriend co-creator, star, and executive producer Rachel Bloom said she felt an obligation to get involved. Because her show is produced by CBS Studios, Bloom was invited as a guest to this year’s showcase, which made her want to talk to executives about what she’d heard, she told Vulture…
Generally, Orenstein demanded that Latino characters have “Ricky Ricardo” accents, gay men twirl across the stage and lisp, Asian actors “act foreign,” and black actors “black it up.” Nicole Byer, who performed in the 2013 showcase, declined to be interviewed for this story, but within weeks of the final performance, she created a sketch titled “Be Blacker” for UCB Comedy Originals, which other participants say depicted her showcase experience…
For a while, Wong says she tried to give the showcase leaders the benefit of the doubt. “I assumed from the experience, this was just CBS’s way of giving actors of color a small taste of how fucked-up the rest of Hollywood is,” Wong wrote on Facebook. “But in the years since that showcase, I’ve learned that … it is possible for people of color to be treated with respect and work in a productive environment where they can succeed together.”
Best quote, because it’s SO REAL: “When I challenged her or Rick, it was like sticking an ice-cream cone up their ass. They would freak out. So I stopped talking.”
It’s clearly so, so psychological.
Related: “The Al Capone theory of sexual harassment”
