It takes a special kind of person to look at the success of shows like Empire, black-ish, and Fresh Off the Boat as something to fear, but that’s just what Deadline did last night, in a story that asked, “Ethnic Castings — About Time, or Too Much of Good Thing?” As the site’s TV editor Nellie Andreeva argued, the industry’s recent shift toward more diverse casting, which has generally been regarded as a long-overdue step in the right direction, is actually unfair to white actors, who have found themselves passed over for quality roles this pilot season. As expected, Twitter treated Andreeva’s post with the appropriate amount of scorn, as showrunners, actors, critics, and viewers all stepped up to express their displeasure with her prose.
Here are some of the reactions:
