The creator of Jennifer Lopez’s new racially diverse TV series tells industry outlet TheWrap “the white man’s 15 minutes” of fame have expired, as networks and audiences are hungry for more minority-driven entertainment.
In a new interview on the topic of diversity in casting, Adi Hasak, creator of NBC’s Thursday cop drama Shades of Blue, told the outlet, “I think in general, broadcasters are realizing that the white man’s 15 minutes are up.”
The self-described former B-movie writer added: “I think everyone’s woken up to a new reality.”
Shades of Blue stars Lopez as a New York police officer who is forced to work with the FBI to unearth corruption in her unit. Hasak reportedly adjusted the show to work around Lopez’s ethnicity, as her character Harlee Santos was not originally intended to be played by a Hispanic woman.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=befGQC1iMgI
Hasak’s show is one of three new NBC shows featuring Hispanic actresses—the others being Superstore, featuring Honduran-America former Ugly Betty star America Ferrera, and Telenovela, starring actress Eva Longoria.
Ferrera previously attacked Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump as “ignorant and racist” in an open letter last summer at the Huffington Post.
“What you just did with your straight talk was send more Latino voters to the polls than several registration rallies combined!” she wrote.
Longoria also lashed out at Trump last summer, by comparing the New York billionaire to Nazi mass murderer Adolf Hitler.
The actress told reporters that Trump’s stance on illegal immigrant crime created an “emotional poison.”
“Hitler moved a nation with words, just words,” Longoria said.
As Hasak noted, NBC is not the only network convinced white talent is no longer advantageous.
As previously reported by Breitbart News, CBS’s reboot of the classic series Nancy Drew will feature a “diverse” actress in the lead role. CBS is reportedly not considering white actresses for the part of the iconic teen character.
Netflix also announced this week it had ordered a 13-episode all-Latino remake of Norman Lear’s classic series One Day At a Time, while Starz has ordered three new all-Latino television series.
Ratings for episode two of Hasak’s Shades of Blue slipped by 28 percent on Thursday night, as viewers fled in droves to catch Trump vs. Cruz at the Republican presidential debate on Fox Business Network, according to Deadline.