- I don't know if you saw the story
where Scarlett Johansson, as you know,
has a record of coming under fire for playing roles
that people have said could go to other minority groups.
So for instance, she played what was considered
a Japanese character in a movie,
like an action movie, I forget what the name of the movie.
Was it "Ghost in the Shell?" (overlapping audience shouts)
It was "Ghost in the Shell," yeah?
And then she wanted to play a trans character
in another movie and people were like,
hey, come on, what about trans actors?
Can they get a shot at this?
And she had a statement at the time which wasn't great.
She was like, "Oh, what don't you go talk
"to other people's agents who've done it before me?"
It was like a very dismissive thing
and she apologized after that.
And now she came back for another statement
where she said something along the lines of,
"As an actress I should be allowed to play
"whatever role I want, a tree, an animal, whatever.
"People shouldn't be restricting me,"
and blah blah blah.
And I was like, it's so interesting,
I understand why you may wanna get defensive as a person.
I can even understand why some white people
may feel like they're under attack
in and around these conversations,
but I think what's often lost is,
you see when Scarlett goes, "I should be allowed to play
"an animal or a tree or anything."
And it's like, yes, but that's exactly
what people are sort of saying
is they're saying for so long Hollywood
and the people who have defined storytelling in America
have defined it as stories to be told
for and by white people, all right?
And so the roles that have been generally reserved
for black people have been the stereotypes
of criminal, maid, slave, that's pretty much it.
And all people are saying is
if there are these opportunities where it's, like,
a Japanese character pops up,
you saw how many people loved "Crazy Rich Asians"
'cause they're, like, hey man,
just to see myself on screen,
not in just the stereotypical fashion,
but to see myself as a human being gives me,
like we take for granted
how much representation means to human beings.
And I think in two ways.
One, on an inspirational front.
But two, just how it shapes society.
I don't take for granted how the idea
of terrorists and Muslims was propagated by Hollywood
more so than many other mediums.
Where every time you watched TV, if someone was on TV like,
(speaking gibberish in foreign language)
then you're like, oh shit.
(audience laughing)
It was never, like, the cool thing.
Do you know what I mean? - Right.
- That imagery is powerful.
'Cause a lot of the people who watch those movies
don't even come into contact with diverse people,
so their image of these people is defined by Hollywood.
And you would think that a place
that considers itself so liberal
would try to find a way to represent people.
I'm not saying there are no Middle Eastern terrorists,
but I'm saying there are Middle Eastern stories
that run the gamut, there's a spectrum.
You know, like great shows,
there's a great show on Hulu called "Ramy."
Like, one of my favorite shows I've ever watched.
It just shows you, like,
what it's like to be a Muslim family living in America
and it's, like, the range of Muslim,
super religious all the way through
to yeah, I drink and I eat pork and I say I'm Muslim,
but it's authentic, you know?
And those stories I think are so important,
not in a charity way, but in a great TV, great stories,
great inclusivity, just like,
yeah, let's tell some original stories.
And so someone like Scarlett Johansson sometimes, I think,
doesn't understand, you know,
when you read a quote like that you go,
no, people aren't attacking you for this.
They're just saying you have the luxury
of all of these roles and the roles
that these other people will never be considered for.
You can play a Japanese robot if you want to,
and you can play a white woman in "Avengers,"
a white woman in a romantic comedy,
a white woman in an action, a white woman in a drama,
you can play of them,
but the Japanese woman who's acting,
she most probably can only play the Japanese robot,
you know what I mean?
(audience applauding)
That's...
That's what people are trying to say.
At the same time, however,
I think we should be careful and honest with each other
and go, we wanna be in a place where we're saying
we want opportunities for everybody,
but we shouldn't be so extreme that we define a thing as,
like people are like,
only trans people should play trans people on screen.
And I go, I think that's dangerous for a few reasons.
One, not everybody's ready to come out as trans,
so by saying only trans people can play trans people,
what you're not inadvertently saying
is everybody who is trans must come out as trans
at your time so that they can get the role.
When in fact we don't know
at point a person is transitioning.
It's the same as being gay.
If you said only gay people can play gay people on screen.
What you're saying only out gay people
can play gay people on screen.
We don't know who's gay,
we know how many people struggle with coming out as gay,
so you can't make that definition.
You've gotta be careful about how you say those things.
And I also think at the end of the day you are acting
because there's a story and it's being told by an actor.
You get what I'm saying?
So it's about inclusion, whilst at the same time
not stifling creativity and the arts,
but you can't have these conversations honestly
when people are just trying
to fight each other for retweets.
(audience applauding)
(upbeat jazz music)