Dear White People actor Jeremy Tardy says that he will not be returning to the show due to “racial discrimination” by Lionsgate studios.
”Unfortunately I will not be joining NETFLIX’s Dear White People for its fourth and final season due to my experience with Lionsgate and their practices of racial discrimination,” announced Tardy in a series of tweets on Friday. “After being offered to return for several episodes my team was notified that our counter offer would not be considered and that the initial offer was the ‘best and final.'”
Tardy said not being granted his counter offer was “disturbing,” as one of his white co-stars revealed to him that they had successfully negotiated a better deal for themselves.
“This news was disturbing because one of my white colleagues — being a true ally — revealed that they too had received the same initial offer and had successfully negotiated a counter offer,” said Tardy.
“My team expressed this issue to Lionsgate and the producers maintained their position that the white actor was able to negotiate while I was not — regardless of my credits and experience,” the actor continued.
Tardy added that therefore, he and six other actors have decided to band together “to pass on Lionsgate’s initial offers.”
“Our stance was to move powerfully as a unit in the negotiation process and, more importantly, to stand on principle because this is not simply a monetary matter,” he said.
“We were all aware of the notorious pay disparities between people of color and our white colleagues on Netflix and Lionsgate shows; so this made it blatantly obvious,” continued Tardy.
The actor then disclosed that the group’s “bargaining power” was later “undermined” as some colleagues ended up “taking deals.”
“However, our collective bargaining power was undermined with side deal offers and lack of transparency,” wrote Tardy. “These tactics led to some individuals taking deals before the collective group received a fair and equitable negotiation process.”
“These companies have recently released statements and even donations in support of the Black Lives Matter movement,” added Tardy, taking note of the corporations virtue signaling to the Marxist political organization Black Lives Matter. “I am calling out their shameful practices of discrimination and racial inequality with regard to how they have historically undervalued and lowballed people of color.”
“Politically correct lip service and symbolic gestures do not absolve you of the daily responsibility of doing business in a fair and equitable manner,” Tardy proclaimed. “The fact that this has occurred behind the scenes of a show which purports to address systemic issues of racism and discrimination displays the very epitome of hypocrisy. Lionsgate. Netflix. I see you. We see you.”
Netflix is no stranger to scrutiny in recent weeks, as the streaming platform has been facing major backlash for its release of the preteen twerking film Cuties, a film that many critics have slammed as sexually exploiting children.
The film has also prompted several U.S. lawmakers to call on the Department of Justice to open a criminal investigation into Netflix for what Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) called “peddling child pornography.”
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, on Parler at @alana, and on Instagram.
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