*Deadline co-editor-in-chief Nellie Andreeva published a column last week that suggested the rush to cast actors of color has gone too far and become “too much of a good thing.”
Following an intense backlash from everyone ranging from the NAACP Hollywood Bureau to “Scandal” creator Shonda Rhimes, Deadline editor Mike Fleming Jr. has issued an apology in his weekly column, which was posted on Sunday.
“Nellie and I apologize deeply and sincerely to those who’ve been hurt by this,” Fleming writes. “There is no excuse. It is important to us that Deadline readers know we understand why you felt betrayed, and that our hearts are heavy with regret. We will move forward determined to do better.”
Fleming also apologized for the column’s original headline, which read “Pilots 2015: The Year of Ethnic Castings – About Time Or Too Much of Good Thing?” but was later changed to “Pilots 2015: The Year of Ethnic Castings.” The original headline, he said, undermined Andreeva’s goal, which was “to convey that there was such an uptick of TV pilot casting of people of color that it pinched white actors who’ve historically gotten most of the jobs, and to question if this could last if it was being treated as a fad.”
“[The] original headline does not reflect the collective sensibility here at Deadline” Fleming continued. “The only appropriate way to view racial diversity in casting is to see it as a wonderful thing, and to hope that Hollywood continues to make room for people of color. The missteps were dealt with internally; we will do our best to make sure that kind of insensitivity doesn’t surface again here.”
As for Deadline’s slow response to the public outcry, Fleming blames “a perfect storm of events” that included him choosing the worst time go to bed after a 22-hour return flight from New Zealand, and the “normally smart editors on duty failing to respond decisively even after a torrent of hostile comments rolled in.”
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