PAKISTANI MOVIE STAR COMPLAINS: HOLLYWOOD ONLY WANTS WHITE VILLAINS.

In a recent interview with Esquire UK, Pakistani-American actor Kumail Ali Nanjiani explains Tinseltown’s racial politics.

You may know Kumail from his work on Silicon Valley, The Meltdown with Jonah and Kumail, or Marvel’s Eternals. In 2017, he received a Best Original Screenplay Oscar nomination for romantic comedy hit The Big Sick.

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“I think that Hollywood now — even though they’re trying to be more diverse — is still weird,” the actor says. The problem, [Kumail] wagers, is that good intentions can sometimes lead to misguided solutions: If the bad guy is a brown guy, what message is that sending? “And that’s just as limiting as anything else.”

He calls to a Marvel colleague: Pale pretender Sebastian Stan (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier) can play a superhero, then turn around and be a cannibal in horror flick Fresh.

For Kumail, it’s not the same:

“I was told that’s going to be hard because people don’t want to cast nonwhite people as bad guys.”

And that’s a shame:

“I want to play more bad guys.”

Given Hollywood’s propensity for social messaging, it’s not difficult to believe Kumail is right.

No it isn’t. As The Free Press recently noted in article headlined: Hollywood’s New Rules.

Movies and shows that were once widely acclaimed but are now verboten, writers and directors said, included “Blazing Saddles,” even though it was co-written by Richard Pryor; “The Bad News Bears,” even though it featured a multiracial cast; “Tootsie,” because transgender activists; and “Rocky” (“bad guy CANNOT be black,” a director explained in an email).

Fortunately, James Earl Jones is safe as Darth Vader: The destruction of Alderaan was completely justified.