Tuesday, March 11, 2014

Hollywood and interracial dating

Soo I recently read a post about Lupita Nyong'o possibly dating Jared Leto. I get nervous when I see articles that could incite ignorance in the comment section but to my pleasant surprise most people seemed really excited about this idea.  I mean who doesn't love Lupita and Jared (Jordan Catolano, sigh) (side note: can you believe he is 42?!).

So anyway, I'm reading the comments and everything is cool except for one dude who rants about how Hollywood women of color. He states that as soon as they make it big, they get paired up with white men. This led to an online conversation that I did not get into but it made me think. I don't think this is true of all famous black women but I can see why he believed that . However, can't the same be said of famous black men (I mean how many can you name, under the age of 45 who are with black women?).  So, to play devil's advocate with myself, I wondered, does Hollywood push people of color to date white if they make it big (assuming the celebrity is single of course)? And how does this alleged push happen?

Personally, I don't think its Hollywood trying to "white wash" or assimilate these actors. I think its a very limited community and if you are a person of color who gets famous before you get married its not as simple to encounter other people of color who are at/near/ or can appreciate your level/art. We have those who met after fame (B and Jay, Courtney B. Vance and Angela Basset , Will and Jada) but it gets harder after that. I try to hold judgment and not assume that all of the famous black people I see with white partners are doing it because they've "made it big". It's way too many to assume that it's a preference or part of a Hollywood package. I think we date our environment. It speaks more to the lack of diversity in Hollywood than anything. For the sake of my sanity, it's better to believe that interracial dating in Hollywood or anywhere, is more about happenstance and less about seeking a trophy in the form of white skin.

1 comment:

Kim M. said...

NIce post! I agree with your opinion when it comes to actors/actresses in Hollywod! That said, if you were to apply that to, say, black professional male athletes who marry outside their race, I think I would be singing a different tune...