Diversity is important in film, says Sally Kohn. So much so that she penned a long op-ed for CNN this morning berating the trolls behind the #BoycottStarWarsVII hashtag and praising J.J. Abrams for casting a diverse set of actors in his new Star Wars film.
Here’s her conclusion:
So then in this context, what’s “the force” — you know, the mythical energy that fuels Jedis and represents the essence of goodness in the “Star Wars” world? The force is inclusion and equality and freedom for all — everything that humanity is when it’s at its best, in real life and in “Star Wars.” In creating a “Star Wars” that reflects our best values, J.J. Abrams has used the force and stood on the side of good with Luke, Finn and Rey and invited us all to fight for a more inclusive future.
Actually the Force is both good and evil. Dark side, hello! And from the spoilers and such that we’re reading about the new film, it’s more likely than not that the line between what’s good and what’s evil in terms of the Empire vs. the New Republic will be even more blurred.
But Star Wars geekdom aside, Sally Kohn released a short film of her own today. It’s a music video she created with Marie Claire magazine as part of an ongoing effort to get Taylor Swift to become friends with her.
The song is awful, but stick around until the halfway point to see what we’re talking about. For someone who literally just wrote about the importance of diversity, that’s a very white cast of backup dancers you have there, Sally:
.@taylorswift13, how can you deny @sallykohn's friendship after she wrote the sweetest song? https://t.co/gWKm3nrNUthttps://t.co/w83DiHnuJh
— Marie Claire (@marieclaire) October 21, 2015
Here’s a screenshot in case you can’t make it through the song. There’s one non-white dancer that we see. Did we miss any?
More like, #BoycottSallyKohn.
Now before any of you libs get angry at us for hyping this, keep in mind it’s Sally who says it’s totally cool to hype things.
She even admitted she “hyped” the #BoycottStarWarsVII trolls because she was making a “deeper point” while arguing with the Washington Post’s Dave Weigel and the Washington Examiner’s T. Beckett Adams:
Haha, the epic #BoycottStarWarsVII troll snookered a CNN columnist https://t.co/Nd729JUT8c
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 21, 2015
.@sallykohn I just think it’s funny, and you could’ve checked whether the meme was fake or not. There were warnings: https://t.co/yP6R9zOHnU
— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) October 21, 2015
https://twitter.com/BecketAdams/status/656844326463479809
.@BecketAdams @daveweigel over hyped and phony not the same thing. and valid to use hype to make deeper point.
— Sally Kohn (@sallykohn) October 21, 2015
Our deeper point is that Sally Kohn is a hypocrite who talks about diversity yet doesn’t practice it when she has the chance. For shame!
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