Forbes writer Scott Mendelson recently declared that “generic handsome white guy” actors like Armie Hammer are expendable in current Hollywood culture.
Mendelson’s comments came after a series of alleged leaked messages from Armie Hammer were made public.
One of those alleged leaked messages reads, “If I wanted to cut off one of your toes and keep it with me in my pocket so I always had a piece of you in my possession?”
In another it states, “I am 100% a cannibal. I want to eat you. F***. That’s scary to admit b. I’ve never admitted that before. I’ve cut the heart out of a living animal before and eaten it while still warm.
Still, another reads, “Wow. Head rush. Just how completely. Brand you, tattoo you, mark you, shave your head and keep your hair with me, cut a piece of your skin off and make you cook it for me. I mean, I feel like the the tests can be endless.”
In response to these alleged leaked DMs, Mendelson wrote on Twitter, “Fair or not, Armie Hammer is expendable.”
He then made it about his skin color and gender writing, “Talent notwithstanding, he is also a classic example of the kind of ‘generic handsome white guy’ that Hollywood spent the last 20 years trying to turn into the next Tom Cruise only to now wonder why they have no new movie stars.”
While I agree that Armie Hammer is certainly expendable as an actor because all actors are expendable, Mendelson’s comments put a spotlight on how Hollywood is consumed with identity politics, and does not appear to be changing course whatsoever.
As Mendelson clearly points out, it’s not that Armie Hammer is expendable because he’s an actor, he’s expendable because he’s a “generic handsome white guy.”
Hollywood creatives and many of the people that cover them have made it very clear they have problems with white people.
J.J. Abrams’ Bad Robot company issued a statement back in June saying, “Enough white comfort.”
In August, Abrams would read a speech declaring his company would start discriminating against white people.
He stated, “And so, you know, Katie and I at Bad Robot, you know, while we do all sorts of different things and have tried all different things. And we know that we have and we continue to make mistakes and figure it out, but it is absolutely a value and a priority for us to make sure that the projects we’re working on, the artists we’re working with look like the way the world looks.”
Abrams continued, “And I know that there’s a natural tendency to look to people who sort look like you and feel like you, the sort of usual suspects in every aspect of what people do in business. And I think that the key is to look around the room and ask yourself, ‘Do you the people with whom I’m creating look like me?'”
“And if the answer is yes, you probably haven’t done enough to find the people. Is it harder? Sometimes, for sure. But you have to do that work to bring people to the table. And who will let you be at the table so that you can create a community that looks more the way the world looks than not,” he concluded.
WarnerMedia’s New Gods director Ava DuVernay has also indicated she will discriminate against white men.
On Twitter she wrote, “Everyone has a right to their opinion. And we – Black producers with hiring power – have the right to not hire those who diminish us. So, to the white men in this thread… if you don’t get that job were up for, kindly remember… bias can go both ways. This is 2020 speaking.”
Seth Rogen outright stated, “I think I am just actively trying to make less things starring white people.”
He added, “And if I’m succeeding or I’m not, I’m very much looking to have a far more diverse group of writers and directors and actors that we generally work with, because that group is not incredibly diverse, you know?”
The actor then concluded, “So that’s how I’ve been trying to deal with it, is just to actively take as they would say, anti-racist measures to assure that some work is doing done to acknowledge that Black people are very marginalized in American society.”
What do you make of Mendelson’s comments?