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For 12 days, people have been protesting against racial inequality and police brutality in the wake of the killing of George Floyd by Minneapolis police. Michael B. Jordan has now joined in the fighting, extending the demand for justice to Hollywood.
On Saturday, June 6, the actor and producer addressed a crowd of protesters in Los Angeles for a #BlackLivesMatter and #8CantWait rally organized by Century City’s Big 4 agencies: ICM Partners, CAA, UTA and WME.
As reported by Complex, Jordan said Hollywood “needs to go on notice,” and step up to the plate and allow Black creatives to have more of a say in content creation, beyond just the actors.
READ MORE: Ava Duvernay says ‘Selma’ was snubbed for Oscars over ‘I Can’t Breathe’ t-shirts
“You committed to a 50/50 gender parity in 2020, where is the challenge to commit to Black hiring? Black content, led by Black executives, Black consultants,” Jordan said “So let us bring our darkness to the light. We’re done with discrimination.”
In his speech, Jordan made mention of four characters he portrayed that illustrate important aspects of the current movement in the films Just Mercy, Fahrenheit 451, Black Panther and Fruitville Station. He portrayed 22-year-old Oscar Grant in Fruitville Station. Grant was killed by police in California’s Bay Area on New Year’s Day 2009.
“I got the opportunity to embody who he was, I got to feel the pain of his family, his mother, his daughter,” Jordan said of Grant. “I lived with that, and it weighed on me.”
READ MORE: Michael B. Jordan explains why he turns down roles where his character dies
Jordan added that his production team is committed to hiring private security in lieu of police in an effort to keep funding out of their hands.
“Anybody that deals with me, if you have racist beliefs, if you have a racist bone in your body, if you’re not with me, if you don’t stand with me and people that look like me, you don’t need to be with me,” he explained. “I use my power to demand diversity, but it’s time that studios and agencies … do so.”
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