Tattle: On the matter of race today
TATTLE has become confused by the term "racism." Being a racist once meant that you viewed people of a specific race as inferior and did something to either harm them or hinder their advancement.
TATTLE has become confused by the term "racism."
Being a racist once meant that you viewed people of a specific race as inferior and did something to either harm them or hinder their advancement.
Being a racist was worse than being prejudiced because it held with it a certain power to affect lives.
In our current fractured society, however, you don't actually have to act like a racist to be labeled as such - you merely have to bring race into the discussion. Over the past week, people have been accused of being racist for pointing out that George Zimmerman shot Trayvon Martin because he was black.
How dare they bring race into it.
Which brings us to "The Hunger Games," starring Jennifer Lawrence, Liam Hemsworth and Josh Hutcherson, and much farther down the cast list, Amandla Stenberg (Rue) and Dayo Okeniyi (Thresh).
Although Suzanne Collins' best-seller describes both characters as having "dark brown skin," some "Hunger Games" fans were sad, even angry, that the characters were played by people of color.
Us Weekly and others pointed out tweets such as "Why does rue have to be black not gonna lie kinda ruined the movie" or "Why did the producer make all the good characters black?" (emphasis Tattle)
Said another: "Awkward moment when Rue is some black girl and not the innocent blonde girl you picture."
Or (spoiler alert): "Kk call me racist but when I found out rue was black her death wasn't as sad."
As jezebel.com found, tweeters called Rue "a black b---h" or described her with the N-word.
Stenberg, the actress who plays Rue, is 13 - and she doesn't wear a hoodie.
* Twitter. Ugh.
What turned out to be a fake Will Smith account tweeted "WE live in America where a girl that threw flour on Kim Kardashian was arrested on site but the man who KILLED Trayvon Martin is still free."
Spike Lee, Rosie O'Donnell and Omarosa, among others, re-tweeted.
The Hollywood Reporter says @RealWillSmith actually belongs to a guy from Nashville.
* In an oddly related story, Twentieth Century Fox has pulled early promotional materials for its summer Ben Stiller-Vince Vaughn comedy "Neighborhood Watch."
TATTBITS
* According to the
Boston Globe
,
Tiffany Feder, a lawyer for Bobby Brown, has issued a statement about his DUI arrest. She said he "was not driving erratically" when police pulled him over in L.A.
Is that how he always drives?
* Amy Winehouse has left an estate worth $4.66 million. Since she did not leave a will, the money will go to her parents. The documents list father Mitch Winehouse as administrator of the singer's estate. Nothing goes to her ex-husband, Blake Fielder-Civil, whom she divorced in 2009.
* Us Weekly says Bradley
Cooper and Zoe Saldana have split.
The atom?
* New York's Tribeca Film Fes-
tival announced Wednesday that it will close its festival April 28 with Joss Whedon's "The Avengers."
Could be a letdown after two films with Philadelphia ties, "Hysteria" and "Future Weather," play earlier in the fest.
* USA Today reports that "Mad
Men" guru Matthew Weiner will make his big-screen directing debut with "You Are Here," starring Owen Wilson, Zach Galifianakis and probably Amy Poehler.
"This movie has been my passion for eight years, and to see it come together with Owen and Zach and Amy is a dream come true," said Weiner. "I can't wait to get started because the movie is about everything I care about and I'm tired of reading it out loud to my friends."
"Passion"? "Everything I care about"?
"Mad Men" instantly reduced to chopped liver.
- Daily News wire services
contributed to this report.