Will Hollywood Finally Address Lack of Diversity Among Management?

Will Hollywood now address the industry's lack of diversity?

Protests against police brutality prompted leading entertainment companies to declare their support for social justice causes and diversity.

But those same companies have a poor track record when it comes to hiring and promoting black executives into their highest levels, critics say. People of color working in Hollywood, including successful producers and directors, have expressed frustration over the chronic lack of Black and brown executives in decision-making positions.

“Hollywood has to look itself in the mirror,” said Darnell Hunt, dean of social sciences and professor of sociology and African-American studies at UCLA. “Is it part of the problem — or part of the solution?”

Five years after the #OscarsSoWhite campaign called out the lack of people of color among acting and directing nominees at the Academy Awards, and two and a half years after the #MeToo movement forced Hollywood to address its treatment of women, the industry is facing more scrutiny. Protests in support of Black Lives Matter, following George Floyd’s killing by a white Minneapolis police officer, have prompted entertainment and media companies, including the Los Angeles Times, to undergo self-examinations.

A review of the senior leadership at the six major entertainment players — Walt Disney Co., AT&T Inc.'s WarnerMedia, Comcast Corp.'s NBCUniversal, ViacomCBS Inc., Sony Pictures Entertainment and Netflix Inc. — shows that the top ranks remain overwhelmingly white.

For the rest of this Los Angeles Times story log on to: https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/business/story/2020-07-01/hol...