By now, you all know that Hollywood is about a leftist as they come. But that doesn’t mean all members, past and present, agree with their newfound wokeness or affinity for political fanfare.
Take acting legend Richard Dreyfuss, for instance. He might still be a part of the acting and entertainment community, even at age 75. But don’t think for a second that means he likes or supports where the industry is going or even where it already is.
He made this known in a recent interview with PBS “Firing Line.” Host Margaret Hoover asked Dreyfuss what he thought about the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences new “Representation and Inclusion Standards.”
If you haven’t heard of this, suffice it to say that it’s Hollywood’s way of ensuring that diversity and all walks of life are represented in their films and shows. In particular, “underrepresented groups” such as women, non-whites, and sexual subsets must be included now. In fact, these standards must be met to even be nominated for Best Picture beginning next year.
But for those like Dreyfuss, the standard is disgusting enough to make him “vomit.”
He told Hoover, “No one should be telling me, as an artist, that I have to give in to the latest, most current idea of what morality is… Are we really risking hurting people’s feelings? You can’t legislate that.”
He continued, adding, “You have to let life be life. And I’m sorry, I don’t think there’s a minority or a majority in the country that has to be catered to like that.”
And he’s not wrong.
Acting is, after all, the art of acting as someone you are not. And yet, Hollywood’s new standards want actors to only be included if they are actually part of a certain community?
As Dreyfuss says more bluntly, the whole thing is “patronizing. It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children.”
And all for the sake of politics instead of art.
