I don’t even know what to say about this Deadline article that went viral as soon as it was published yesterday evening. The article is called “Pilots 2015: The Year Of Ethnic Castings – About Time Or Too Much Of Good Thing?” But it could really be called “Where aren’t there more white people on television? WAAAHHHH!!!” You can read the offensively bad article here.

First, some background: several main networks and cable networks began revamping their programming, schedules and diversity casting a few years back. Fox and ABC have had tremendous success with their revamped diversity policies and programming, with hit shows like How To Get Away With Murder (with Viola Davis as the lead), Scandal (Kerry Washington) and Empire (Taraji Henson and the almost entirely black cast). Those hit shows have become a “trend” and now every network head has suddenly realized: OMG, non-white audiences consume TV as well. So the 2015 pilot season is littered with “the next Empire” or “the next Scandal” or “the next Fresh Off the Boat,” etc, complete with a wide-range of ethnically diverse actors and actresses in lead and ensemble roles.

So, what’s the problem? It’s been a long time coming, right? Finally, television programming is starting to look as diverse as America. But not to Deadline. Deadline posits that “the pendulum might have swung a bit too far in the opposite direction.” Seriously. Woe is the white actor.

Instead of opening the field for actors of any race to compete for any role in a color-blind manner, there has been a significant number of parts designated as ethnic this year, making them off-limits for Caucasian actors, some agents signal. Many pilot characters this year were listed as open to all ethnicities, but when reps would call to inquire about an actor submission, they frequently have been told that only non-Caucasian actors would be considered. “Basically 50% of the roles in a pilot have to be ethnic, and the mandate goes all the way down to guest parts,” one talent representative said.

In one instance, after a number of actors of different ethnicities tested for two roles in a pilot this year, two Caucasian actors ended up being the top choices for the two remaining regular parts. However, because of a mandate from the studio and network, one of the roles had to diverse, so the pilot could only cast one of the top choices and pass on the other to fulfill the ethnic quota. “They need to say the best man or woman wins,” one rep suggested.

Because of the sudden flood of roles for ethnic actors after years of suppressed opportunities for them, the talent pool of experienced minority performers — especially in the younger range — is pretty limited. That has led to a feeding frenzy, with a number of straight offers locking in ethnic talent before they could be snatched by another pilot.

This is not to say that there weren’t other hot commodities this pilot season; star names were in demand as usual, as were hot young guys and girls and occasional foreigners with that “sparkle.” But the big trend this pilot casting season was the huge spike in the number and prominence of roles that went to minority actors.

[From Deadline]

Part of me thinks it’s sad that people are fighting about this because the white power structure that controls so much of Hollywood film and television still believes that “ethnic programming” is just a trend and they’re just trying to ride the wave. But I’m sure there are people within Hollywood’s overwhelming white power structure who are genuinely upset that in the 2015 pilot season, white actors are only being cast, like, most the time. When it used to be 95% of the time! Anyway, Pajiba had a great summary on the backlash to the “Whitelash” against minority casting decisions – go here to see.

Dear White Actors: At least you still have HBO, Showtime, Netflix, more than half of all cable and standard networks and, oh right, like 98% of the leads in all films. Woe is the white actor, y’all. Won’t anyone think about Bradley Cooper?!

Photos courtesy of WENN.