Caucasian people have always been the faces behind the stereotypical stories of how white people enslaved black people. However, does anyone stop and think about people of colour having enslaved Black people? Or people of colour having white servants? This is a continuation from a previous Babes Against Bullshit article from yesterday, where the topics of discussion included Meghan Markle attempting to cancel Piers Morgan, Jussie Smollett and the Australian drama with Azealia Banks. People fail to realise that the racial divide is on both sides. Because we have so many other examples, there will be at least a third post after this one and possibly a fourth and maybe a fifth.
So, the topics of discussion in this article will be the Australia Day date debate, the Lady Susan Hussey drama and the Hellboy whitewashing situation. So, let’s start with a big one; the Australia Day date.
The Australia Day Date Debate
There was little movement on the Australia Day date debacle for many years. Only in recent years has it become a source of contention. For many Aboriginal people, January 26 isn’t a day for celebration; it’s the day white men invaded. An article in the Guardian in early 2022 reports that 65% of Australians are opposed to the name change. This includes 47% of people between the ages of 18 and 24. Meanwhile, 15% of the main population and 25% of 18 to 24-year-olds want the date of the event changed.
This has been weighed in on in recent weeks with the head of Paramount; therefore, Network 10 in Australia, Beverly McGarvey, has issued a somewhat controversial statement on the subject. According to The Epoch Times, she wrote an email to staff saying they should work on January 26 as it is not a day of celebration. However, she added that if people do not want to take Australia Day off as a public holiday, they can substitute it with another day of their choice. Jarrod Villa, the chief commercial officer at Paramount ANZ, signed off on the email.
Beverly McGarvey And Anthony Dillion Weigh In
Ms McGarvey also advised employees to respect others who work for the company who did not express the same view.
The Epoch Times also mentions that many Aboriginal people celebrate the day and that not all First Nations people feel the same way. Anthony Dillon, an Indigenous academic, called the bid to have Australia day cancelled a form of “virtue signalling.” He mentioned that people need to think about the aboriginal people who feel unsafe and live daily. The date of Australia Day should not be seen as a day of mourning and oppression, as not all Aboriginal people think the same.
The Racial Drama Involving Lady Susan Hussey
The British royal family has been through a lot in the past couple of weeks. In November 2022, Queen Consort Camilla hosted an event at Buckingham Palace involving some of the charities she works with. One of the charities invited to attend, though not connected to Camilla’s work, is Sistah Space, run by Ngozi Fulani.
Sistah Space was set up to assist African and Caribbean heritage in domestic violence situations. Lady Susan Hussey, a lady-in-waiting to the late Queen Elizabeth II, asked Ngozi where she was from. Ms Fulani, whose real name is Marlene Headley, took offence when Lady Susan kept pushing her to talk about her heritage.
When The Event Spiralled Out Of Control
The whole situation spiralled out of hand. Lady Susan apologised and ‘stepped down’ from her position as an advisor to the Queen Consort. However, it was pointed out that Ngozi had been wearing African attire. It came to light when she released a transcript that she might’ve gone to the palace with an agenda.
Ms Fulani allegedly claimed that Lady Susan’s comments were “racist”. However, people started digging into Ngozi’s past and discovered she had written some offensive tweets about the royals. For example, she alleged on the Sistah Space Twitter account that the King and Queen Consort had committed domestic violence against Meghan Markle. Then she alleged that it was racist for the balcony during the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee to have only white family members. Also, she lied on national television that she had never tweeted about the Duchess of Sussex.
Hellboy Whitewashing Incident
To end this post, we wanted to go over a racial issue that caused the 2019 Hellboy film to have a behind-the-scenes problem. The film was supposed to be a sequel to 2008’s Hellboy: The Golden Army, with Ron Perlman back in the saddle playing the titular character. But when the director of the first two films Guillermo Del Toro, wasn’t given the green light, Perlman stepped down. The film was retooled to be a reboot, with David Harbour cast in the role with Ron’s blessing.
One of the characters in the film that was not seen in Del Toro’s films was Ben Daimio. Agent Daimo in the comics was Japanese American. Initially, Ed Skein was cast in the role. However, this caused a backlash from fans who called the casting “whitewashing.” Understanding the fans’ outrage, Skein gracefully stepped aside, allowing an Asian actor to be cast. Daniel Dae Kim was then cast in Skein’s place.
Every Right To Be Upset
Now, fans have every right to be upset, especially in today’s age. However, in the case of what happened with Hellboy, it is understandable why people were outraged. The film had a mainly Caucasian cast and did not have an ounce of ethnicity. Some productions, such as the Marvel Cinematic Universe, will change the ethnicity of certain characters, such as Kang the Conqueror, going from white to black on the screen. However, it is often advised that castings stay the same ethnicity to prevent backlash. This is to make projects more diverse.
Open castings are often used if the original creator is involved. One example is Rick Riordan, with the upcoming Percy Jackson and the Olympians series based on his books. This was the case when Leah Jeffries, an African-American actress, was cast as Annabeth Chase for the series. Unfortunately, this led to the so-called “diehard” fans turning to racism. They thought that by bullying Leah, she would drop out, and a Caucasian actress with blonde hair would be cast.
Rick Riordan condemned the actions of these people. He said that Leah’s casting was influenced by her ability to play the character, not on her appearance. Even Javicia Leslie jumped in and said it was unacceptable behaviour.
