{"id":600001,"date":"2026-04-12T22:52:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:52:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/600001\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T22:52:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T22:52:11","slug":"issa-rae-says-dei-is-a-bad-word-in-hollywood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/600001\/","title":{"rendered":"Issa Rae Says DEI Is a ‘Bad Word’ in Hollywood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tIssa Rae<\/a> recently told The Wrap<\/a> that \u201cHollywood is in an identity crisis right now\u201d and is experiencing a downturn in representation both behind and in front of the camera.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI started \u2018Awkward Black Girl\u2019 because there was a dearth of representation in the industry, and it felt like this was my opportunity to put an archetype into the space that didn\u2019t exist at the time,\u201d Rae said. \u201cAnd now, even after so much progress, we\u2019re kind of back to limited representation and having to stake claim of our stories. We\u2019re back where we started, in a way, but wiser.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRae added that some execs of color have told her that they \u201ccan\u2019t cosign you.\u201d She thinks this is a symptom of the industry \u201ctiptoeing\u201d around elevating diverse storytellers in light of recent clampdowns on DEI policies.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI\u2019m seeing it. Just blatantly. People aren\u2019t investing like they were before,\u201d Rae asserted. \u201c[DEI] has changed meanings and has become a bad word.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAlthough Rae maintained that her goal to elevate inclusivity in Hollywood will \u201cnever\u201d change, she said that she has to get more creative about how she pitches her projects.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cYou have to be smarter about how you package and market [projects],\u201d Rae explained. \u201cYou tell them, \u2018It\u2019s not a show about a Black woman, it\u2019s a show about class.\u2019 As icky as that might feel, it gets the show sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRae recalled that she was approached about a television adaptation of he YouTube series \u201cAwkward Black Girl.\u201d However, it was pitched as a complete overhaul with an entirely new cast.<\/p>\n

\n\tRae quipped, \u201cThey talked about recasting everyone, including me, with celebrities, so that was an easy no thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Issa Rae recently told The Wrap that \u201cHollywood is in an identity crisis right now\u201d and is experiencing…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":600002,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,227230],"class_list":{"0":"post-600001","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-issa-rae"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600001","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=600001"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/600001\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600002"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=600001"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=600001"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=600001"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}