Bill Maher Blames the Oscars’ Diversity Problem on ‘Racist Asians’
Bill Maher has really gone off the deep end lately. From a guy with thought-provoking opinions to the guy with the same shitty opinions as your uncle that makes family dinners uncomfortable, his latest nugget of wisdom is really something.
“The dirty little secret is most movies are made now with an eye to the foreign market, and Asians really are racist.”
He told this to his guests Seth MacFarlane and Florida Rep. Alan Grayson on his HBO show, while discussing the lack of diversity in Hollywood. When they didn’t immediately agree, he only pushed it harder.
“I’m just honest. They don’t want to see black people generally in their movies. The Hollywood executives are, like, ‘We’re not racist, we just have to pretend to be racists because we’re capitalists. We want to sell our movies in China (and) they don’t like Kevin Hart.’ ”
Yeah, because black actors and filmmakers were being recognized by Hollywood left and right before the guys up top realized that Asian people also watch movies.
Thanks, Bill. Thanks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S36MPyxDU8M&feature=youtu.be&t=2m5s
(H/T Celebitchy)
Uber-rich blacks making Millions of Dollars on one movie alone… throwing a tantrum because they didn’t get nominated…. that means the black/racism thing is NEVER going to get better.
They don’t care about statistics or reason, they will whine and complain because that’s how they get their way. They feel entitled. They’re children. They have no emotional intelligence.
You are a Bigot/Racist. How do i know??
1- No way you know every Uber-rich black. So, to argue they are doing _<–fill the blank here, is utter bigotry.
2- You continue with your bigotry to fuel your stereotypes of black people: "they don't care about statistics or reason", "they will whine and complain, cuz they feel entitled"/ that's racism.
Sometimes black people have the same stereotypes about white people, we need to get rid of bigotry and stereotypes when talking about races, thanks!!
The fact that they have to deal with halfwit racists like you all their lives has nothing to do with it.
Umm he’s actually correct. Please do some research on neo-nazi movements in Thailand or the Asia Pacific marketing department of Disney editing out the black character from the Star Wars movie posters. Or just try living in an asian country for a few months as a non-white, non-asian person. I know you don’t want this to be true, but it absolutely is.
StarWars for example, look at the press/posters. Missing a very specific person from the movie for the Asian markets. AND the movie did far worst than expected there. If that’s racism or not is not something I can’t opine on. http://www.cnn.com/2015/12/08/asia/star-wars-china-racist-poster/
Let’s face it, the world at large dislikes black people , black people in America should educate themselves and realize that America is actually the least racist country in the world .
Except white people… white people can’t seem to get enough of “black people” and black culture and black music. People are repulsed by differences, even arbitrary ones like skintone…. until they are exposed enough to it. That’s a human trait and not racism as its defined. xenophobia is natural, thinking your race is superior or denigrating other races for perceived (usually stereotypical) differences are not.
I would give it less racist than average. But, “the least racist country in the world” is a huge stretch.
true dat
Saying “it’s not as bad here as it is over there so be quiet” is complete and utter bullshit and reeks of arrogance and entitlement. Educate yourself and stop offering advice from the vacuum of privileged or ignorance.
I was not offended by what Bill said, I was more fascinated. Mainly because I find it completely plausible and it made me curious about what extent any racism or anti black preference might exist in asian countries and influence decisions. I don’t know the answer and would like to see this topic explored, but this article just wants to shut down the discussion of the topic.
Star Wars is the first thing that came to my mind, too. At first I thought they were setting up Rey and Finn to be lovers, but then I thought of the bootleg I saw where a Russian audience cheered and laughed when Finn got taken down at the end. If there’s one company that absolutely does cynical due diligence on the social norms in every country it markets to, it’s Disney. They didn’t spend $4 billion on something just to immediately make half the world associate it with something they find repugnant. Looks like poor Finn is gonna end… Read more »
I studied abroad in Japan for a year in college. Can confirm. Asians are the most unintentional racist people on Earth. Sad but true.
Maher is a r.acist hack. No different from when Jeb Bush went crazy and tried to deflect the immigration issue into a small fraction of ‘Asian anchor babies’. Bill Maher is one of those r.acists who will make unfounded generalizations about Asian people in Asia, while at the same time say something insane like ‘there are no Asian American actors on American TV because there simply isn’t talent’. The fact there isn’t more uproar over his crazy comments show just how much r.acist comments and generalizations about Asians are pervasive and somehow OK to utter when similar comments about any… Read more »
Bill Maher is an idiot r.acist trying to deflect Hollywood r.acism: – If Asians have influence, why are there zero Asian stars in Hollywood movies or TV? Why do Hollywood movies regularly whitewash stories and characters based on Asian people? – Why did Fast and Furious Seven, and Six, do amazingly well in China? – Why did the Karate Kid remake with Jaden Smith do well in China? – Why did ‘After Earth’ do so much better in China than it did in America? – Why were Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady jerseys the top NBA jerseys in China, even… Read more »
He is actually quite right, its a well known fact. Hollywood is trying to break into the money and movie market in Asia, and guess what, they have to do things they don’t like to accommodate the money. They add China scenes, they change actors, they edit for that market to get to the money.
Agree. Spoiler alert: Why do you think the Chinese space program helps save the day in “The Martian”? This brings in the Asian market.
That plot point is actually from the book, not from movie execs.
That’s why moron to read more and watch less.
Congratulations, you’re so smart because you read “The Martian”. Your rude post demonstrates your level of intelligence and cowardice.
I’ve read behind-the-scenes accounts of a movie where Beijing was supposed to be blown up, but the studio nixed it because they were planning on marketing it in China. And depictions of certain things (e.g. skeletons, Falun Gong, freedom) are banned in China, so it’s actually pretty common for content producers to make changes to accommodate it.
GOSH! SPOILLER ALERT!
I haven’t seen the movie yet! So China now has astronauts?
Actually Asians and Latinos get far more shafted by the Oscars than African Americans. Asians are about 6% of the population here and get about 1% of the nominations. Hispanics are about 16% of the US population and get even fewer film roles than Asians.
African Americans are about 13% of the US population and they get about that percentage of film roles and Oscar nominations.
Another great point, I see FAR more black actors vs latinos or asians or indians in both film and television as the “token” minority role. Blacks seem over represented as far as minorities goes, if not in an absolute sense vs population. Part of that is just because for some reason, a lot of people think white people are just the bees knees. I get it to some extent, plenty of good looking white people and looks sells, but I don’t think they are the best looking. Have people seen middle easterners? Some amazingly good looking people, why aren’t there… Read more »
These are great statistics, and your post seems intelligent so I’ll take your word on it … just out of curiosity; where did you get these stats? Thank you for contributing to an intelligent discussion, and not just call for boycotts and protests.
See http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2016/01/film-and-race?zid=319&ah=17af09b0281b01505c226b1e574f5cc1
Yeah, blame it on something you have least knowledge on. Bill Maher getting old, he might start following some religion or cult hood soon.
Bill knows about the industry and your snark about his age splats on you.
Bill’s comment is consistent with what I saw living in The People’s Republic for nearly eight years. Chinese are very racist, as are the Japanese by the way. They don’t express it much because there are only a small number of people in China who are not Chinese. I am a white man and had great status, but anyone who was not white or Chinese was certainly considered to be of lower status.. Women are also looked down on as are many small ethnic groups. The Han are in the majority, the rulers, and are very clear about that.
And you will see the same thing in spain, germany, france, etc. Every homogeneous populations creates mostly negatives stereotypes towards other races and ethnicities. And positive ones about themselves. That is normal, and that why we need heterogeneous societies.
Heterogeneous societies? You are about 800 years late for that.
Or 800 years early for that.
LOL! I think Pedro Álvares Cabral, Queen Isabella, Colombus, The British Empire, Vasco da Gama, would highly disagree with you.
Are you high, bro? Germany and France are extremely cosmopolitan. France isn’t even very homogeneous; they’ve got tons of ethnic minorities there.
Norway and Sweden are among the most homogeneous countries on Earth, but both are far more liberal toward minorities than more diverse countries like the US and China.
Homogeneity has little to do with it. Asians be racist; even toward other Asians.
Take a look at Europe and Asia.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/05/16/a-revealing-map-of-the-worlds-most-and-least-ethnically-diverse-countries/
The thing i see is: People go fast into criticizing others “racism” and are not aware of their own self serving bias. Asians being racist is a bigotry because you don’t have consensus or data about it, it is just your cognitive experience towards Asian people, that allows you to be so affirmative of your own bias. We(all humans) favor people who look like us(yourself), being racial or ethnic. It is proved that in heterogeneous societies people tend to be less bias toward their own race/ethnic, it doesn’t mean that to some degree you will still be bias towards your… Read more »
Again as I have commented above that yes what you are saying is true but at the same time that doesn’t mean there isn’t systemic problem in Hollywood. Minorities are underrepresented and the few roles they are given are often crappy, stereotypical, etc. So what Bill Maher said is only a half truth and he’s using it as a scapegoat to protect his elite Jewish friends.
“I am a white man and had great status” Whatever cracker, I’m sure they make you king of a city. bwahahahahahahahaahah
As a white man you were subjected to “benevolent racism.”
Bill’s fundamental premise of Hollywood making movies for the Asian market is incorrect. To think that Asians really care about our copyright laws is ludicrous. These movies are largely consumed for free in foreign countries. Thanks to peer-to-peer sharing technology. Hollywood still makes movies primarily for US consumption.
Also, him calling Asians racist is equally ludicrous.
You’re dead wrong. Chinese movie theatres are packed with paying customers mostly young people wanting to experience the big screen with friends or a date. The bootlegs are with DVDs which are a fast dying medium there and only still popular with the old and the poor. Home video stuff has moved toward the internet there which is a highly regulated space.
Also, him calling Asians racist is brutal, uncomfortable honesty that it appears you would like to remain willfully ignorant to.
Dead wrong? Really?
Asian countries view on piracy is more “don’t ask, don’t tell” than anything else. Technology simply makes is real easy to pirate copies of anything digital and even physical.
Individual rights which patent laws are based on is not important in other cultures, it will take a culture shift over many generations to change this, if at all!
Again calling Asians racist is ludicrous because racism (dividing people up by race) is a creation of colonialism and as far as I know, China has never colonized any country in the history of mankind.
Chinese attitudes on piracy are exactly as you say they are, but the points he makes are still valid. If you want to watch a movie in decent quality, you either pay to go to a theatre or stream it over the Internet (which _is_ very highly regulated). They’ve succeeded in making it easier to pay a little bit of money than it is to pirate something, and the average Chinese citizen has much more disposable income than they used to. It makes perfect sense that movie distribution is a viable business in China.
Disposable income to pay for something you can get free makes no sense whatsoever unless your belief system includes respect for copyright laws. Again, these movies are not made to profit in Asian markets but to export our western culture.
As far as I know its currently a low percentage that Hollywood derives from Asian markets and fast declining as the streaming technology improves in these countries.
Right, but it’s not about ideology; it’s about convenience. Chinese people won’t go out of their way to pirate things if it’s inconvenient for them just because they hate capitalism or something. If the only difference is price, people will pirate. If the cost of admission is less than the added value you get by paying for something (e.g. better quality or easier availability), then people will pay. The idea that everyone in China pirates everything all the time no matter what is just cartoonish in its reductiveness. Not to mention the implication that all Chinese people think the same… Read more »
Many urban Chinese will pay to see a movie because much like North America they too are interested in evenings out with friends that might include going out for dinner or coffee, going to the movies, going to a bar, going to karaoke. etc. Do you think that paying money for big screen movies could never factor into Chinese social life? In fact, the Chinese still go to bars and pay $4 dollars for a bottle of budweiser beer. Yet buying budweiser in the convenience store is only about 50 cents! Why wouldn’t all people all the time just buy… Read more »
I guess we’d better define racism. If you think it’s that brand new progressive definition of “power + prejudice” then we’re going to fundamentally disagree. But if you agree that it’s related to hate or discrimination based on no other reason but skin colour we might be able to figure something out. Think about it… what country has Finland colonized? No one, so I guess it’s impossible for a Fin to be racist. The Bamars of Burma colonized the Kachin, Mon and Shan peoples over the past thousand years and are still in control of their territories. I guess that… Read more »
I live as a foreigner in China. I have for 7 years. When Star Wars came out they made sure that the black and female lead were just tiny specks on the poster. Compared to front and centre in North America. I also have experience in the modelling industry here and when asked if I could provide any models for a Chinese client they saw pictures of several good looking black friends and cringed. Other black friends get teased and called “shadow” for showing up dark in night time photographs. Other’s get strangers giving them thumbs up and yelling “OBAMA.”… Read more »
Doesn’t matter. Bill Maher is being dishonest by presenting a half truth. It is also true that Hollywood systemically discriminated against minorities and when they are given roles they are stereotypical and/or crappy. Bill Maher has a point but he does this all the time, this is a issue but its part of a much bigger problem in Hollywood. When it comes to Israel/Palestine issues and stuff like this he must always please his Jewish elite masters.
you’re completely incorrect, Bill has no loyalties to anyone but producing an awesome show. realtime is the s**t
I watch all of his overtime episodes and sometimes see him on HBO sometimes as well. Just because I like the show doesn’t mean I agree with him 100% of the time. Bill Maher’s quality of argument deteriorates in a big way with respect to his points on Israel and Palestine. If you think he has no loyalties then you are foolish.
Systemic discrimination implies a codified set of rules to exclude minorities from film. It implies powerless victimization and ignores the need for more quality scripts for diverse characters to be cast and the market based capital decisions made by corporations who sell movies to make money.
could you provide the names of any of the Jewish elite masters Bill serves? He’s got a valid argument about xenophobia in Asian cultures, albeit not PC, and understanding the facts helps plan for solutions instead of inaction.
Did I ever say he didn’t have a point with respect to Asian cultures? Yes what he is saying is true but at the same time that doesn’t mean Hollywood discrimination at home is untrue. Asia wasn’t a big part Hollywood’s revenue until just a few years ago. What about the 1990’s and early 2000s when Asia accounted for next to nothing?
Well it’s supposed to be about performances….not gross, right Bill? But I will say the film selection and cast, is most likely slanted towards profit…..hence the hurt feelings.
I think it’s funny, because there is some truth to it. Statistically speaking the USA is one of the least racists nations on the plant. Youtube ThRb9x-RieI?list=LLx407LfxTmc-jaf0GhhZBiA. We have a whole group of people telling us how racist we are, but compared to the rest of the world we are not. So it comes to us as a shock when someone points out the painfully obvious truth that Chinese people can be racist too. Just so you know they put their pants on 1 leg at a time too. I know right…
Bill got it wrong. As a black American living in China for the past few years I can speak lucidly about the topic. Is there racism in China? Definitely. Does this mean all Asians are racist definitely not. American culture has had a major influence on how Chinese people see the outside world. They get most of their stereotypes about blacks from Hollywood. For example every Chinese person assumed I could either rap or play basketball. Which was really weird to me until I realized that all the movies and TV shows showing blacks in China had them cast in… Read more »
A sixty year old white guy who dates young black women. His status has been earned through the huge body of work in political punditry and social commentary. I think is it impossible to determine what significance Hollywood has created relative to hip hop, pop culture and athletes persona captured in the media in see if he Chinese views of minorities. However to generalize that Chinese are more Xenophobic toward minorities is an accurate statement.
Last time I checked 98% of rap music and it’s lyrics are brought to us by black ppl. I think the stereo typing of blacks should be blamed on the blacks
Here we go – now a bunch of idiots will make comments arguing for either side not realizing that both sides are correct. Yes it is true that Asians prefer white actors and actresses due mainly to the fact they they have been overexposed to it so it’s awkward when seeing different races in Hollywood films. Also at the same time there is a systemic problem in Hollywood where minorities are underrepresented and the few times they are represented then it’s usually in pretty crappy marginalized roles.
I’ve lived in Asia for most of the last 20 years and, like it or not, Bill is spot on. People there don’t cloak their prejudices in political correctness like we do in the west.
The facts support Bill’s comments. Star Wars The Force Awakens has been breaking records all over the place. It hits China, over a billion population, and fizzles?!?! Please… It isn’t racism if facts support it.
This is actually accurate. The only black actor who plays in China is Will Smith. The problem with this year’s Oscars, however, is the best movie with black actors was “Straight Outta Compton” and that’s not exactly Oscar bait. Gangsta Rap doesn’t play with old white people or old black people for that matter. Smith’s blatant attempt at Oscar bait “Concussion” just didn’t make the grade critically or financially. If you want an Oscar do a biopic on a tortured person or a period piece or an “important” film.
Bravo Bill Maher! Finally, an intelligent conversation about the lack of diversity with the Academy Awards; not just boycotts or protests. There are some complex reasons for the lack of diversity; it’s not racism. Yes, marketing to the Asian market is a major factor in Hollywood. Also, African Americans generally do not watch these arthouse movies that generally win at the Oscars. Summer blockbusters have the largest box-office, but they do not win the Oscars.
Blah Blah Blah. I’m SO tired of the faux persecution. I really am. And I’m a Progressive.
Black actors have been represented by the Oscars over the past ten or fifteen years in almost exact accordance with the black population of the country. What Maher said is ABSOLUTELY correct. The big studios are about one color and that’s green. Just like NBA owners.
White cracker trying blame someone else except themselves. Hey, China market only open the last decade. What happen with White Hollowood racism then?
I actually buy this argument. I was wondering if they were setting up Rey and Finn as love interests in the latest Star Wars movie, and I landed on no, because there _are_ a lot of countries out there with even more racist and backwards outlooks than ours, and Disney is in the business of making money, not social progress. A bootleg I saw a month or so ago came from a Russian theater, and everyone laughed when Finn got hurt. Maher is famous for saying things that are probably true but never uttered in polite company. He even wrote… Read more »
Assuming Asians are racists, why didn’t liberals stand up for their ideals?
The truth is liberals are just like conservatives and everyone else. They just go around pointing fingers at other people. I used to like Maher now I can see through him.
It’s a fact, Black actors do not fare well in Asian markets.
“Yeah, because black actors and filmmakers were being recognized by Hollywood left and right before the guys up top realized that Asian people also watch movies.”
Actually, yes they were.
this author is just lazy. Bill is right almost 100% of the time. This is true, Asians don’t like blacks, remember LA Riots in Korea Town? And he’s not defending any side, just pointing this s**t out. wow. this author sucks
Well….. yes. Yet again he’s right.
Breaking news: Bill Maher is an idiot r.acist trying to deflect Hollywood r.acism: – If Asians have influence, why are there zero Asian stars in Hollywood movies or TV? Why do Hollywood movies regularly whitewash stories and characters based on Asian people? – Why did Fast and Furious Seven, and Six, do amazingly well in China? – Why did the Karate Kid remake with Jaden Smith do well in China? – Why did ‘After Earth’ do so much better in China than it did in America? – Why were Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady jerseys the top NBA jerseys in… Read more »