Steven Spielberg is Adding Black Characters to ‘West Side Story’ Because He Doesn’t Understand How Diversity Works

Gosh, Steven Spielberg means well, but the road to hell is paved with good intentions. He wants to do something good by adding Black characters to his remake of West Side Story. According to CNN, he says “In 1957, in New York City, there were a lot of Black people walking around. But unfortunately, when they created the original version there weren’t a lot of Black people in it. This time I think they decided to include the landscape as it really was. I’m so fortunate that I am the representation of it.”

Now, there is a reason that there weren’t a lot of Black characters in West Side Story: it’s about an all-White gang, the Jets and their racially-motivated rivalry with a Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks.

The story is based on Romeo and Juliette, with Tony, a Jet, falling in love with Maria, the sister of the Sharks’ leader Bernardo.

So I guess the question here is which would be more accidentally racist: making these new black characters members of the Jets or the Sharks?

One of two things is going to happen here: we’re going to have some minor, background Black characters in this movie or we’re going to see a major Black character taking part in a turf war between a White gang and a Puerto Rican gang. There are Black Puerto Ricans so maybe that will work.

But something to keep in mind here is that you don’t have to watch this. It doesn’t need to be made. If you want to see West Side Story, just go watch West Side Story. Natalie Wood and Rita Moreno are in it and it’s one of the best Broadway musicals of all time. You don’t need a remake.