Diversity: Last News

Stewart Talent is expanding its literary footprint with the hires of A3 veterans Ron Gwiazda and Amy Wagner, who will launch the agency’s New York literary division.

Joe Otterson TV Reporter Kurt Sutter’s upcoming western drama series “The Abandons” at Netflix has added six new cast members, Variety has learned. Nick Robinson (“Maid,” “A Teacher”), Diana Silvers (“Booksmart,” “Space Force”), Lucas Till (“X-Men” film franchise, “MacGyver”), Lamar Johnson (“The Last of Us,” “Brother”), Aisling Franciosi (“The Nightingale,” “God’s Creatures”), and Natalia del Riego (“Hail Mary,” “Promised Land”) have all joined the series. They will star alongside previously announced star Lena Headey as well as Gillian Anderson.

Bella Hadid has been using her platform of 60 million followers on Instagram to promote controversial ideologues, like Louis Farrakhan.Fox News Digital reviewed the “highlights” section featured prominently on the top of Hadid’s Instagram page and discovered that over the years, the supermodel has shared videos on her social media of figures promoting anti-white ideology.Hadid’s reps and IMG Models – whose official website links out to Hadid’s Instagram – didn’t respond for comment.Hadid shared an old video from Nation of Islam leader and antisemite Louis Farrakhan where he admonished a white woman in the audience during “The Phil Donahue Show.” The white woman said she was afraid of violence, to which Farrakhan responded by saying the woman’s fear was a “deep guilt thing.”“Now Whites fear violence from us… And what you fear is a deep guilt thing… You are afraid that if we ever come to power we will do to you what you and your people have done to us. And I think you are judging us by the state of your own [White] mind and that is not necessarily the mind of Black people,” Farrakhan said.The Nation of Islam, which is “based on a somewhat bizarre and fundamentally anti-White theology,” according to the left-wing group the Southern Poverty Law Center.The Nation of Islam believes that “White people were not created by God but by the evil black scientist Yakub… Because of the process by which Yakub created the white race, white people are inherently deceitful and murderous.

The good news: the demographic diversity of the Television Academy’s membership has increased and women with historically marginalized racial/ethnic identities reported a 10% increase in “belonging.”

Naman Ramachandran Netflix has revealed its upcoming 2024 Indian slate and Monika Shergill, VP, content has outlined the streamer’s commissioning philosophy and strategy for the country. New titles on the slate include: Luv Ranjan comedy film “Wild Wild Punjab”; Neeraj Pandey heist film “Sikandar Ka Muqaddar”; scripted Anubhav Sinha thriller series “IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack”; Kapil Sharma’s unscripted comedy series “The Great Indian Kapil Show”; and cricket themed docu-series “The Greatest Rivalry – India vs Pakistan,” featuring top Indian and Pakistani cricketers.

EXCLUSIVE: The Black List is opening submissions for six diversity lists in partnership with GLAAD, CAPE, the MPAC Hollywood Bureau, The Salon, the Latin Tracking Board, NALIP, 1IN4 Coalition, and the WGA Disabled Writers Committee, in addition to establishing the Desi List-–a new, curated list that will shine a light on the most promising feature scripts and pilots from South Asian writers.

A team of volunteer divers who found Scots fisherman Greig Stoddart have been gifted an expert search device.

The X-Files creator Chris Carter is addressing the reboot series coming from Black Panther director Ryan Coogler.

Full Swing is back.

Jennifer Maas TV Business Writer The Writers Guild of America East has tapped Sam Wheeler as the union’s new executive director. Chosen by the WGA East council as successor to longtime WGA East leader Lowell Peterson, who exited his post last October after the conclusion of the writers strike, Wheeler enters the role after serving as the national executive director of the American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA) since 2022.

Naman Ramachandran Fresh off the Sundance-winning “Girls Will Be Girls,” Indian actor-producers Richa Chadha and Ali Fazal have unveiled a further slate from their Pushing Buttons Studios. Directed by Shuchi Talati, “Girls Will Be Girls” is the debut production from Pushing Buttons Studios, in collaboration with Crawling Angels, Blink Digital and Dolce Vita Films.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor Whoopi Goldberg, famed EGOT and business mogul, is adding another entry to her résumé: streaming entrepreneur. Goldberg is an equity investor in Blkfam, billed as the first and only Black-owned and Black-focused family streaming platform. The free, ad-supported service launches Feb.

Jasroop Singh once hated the way she looks, but the 21-year-old is now making a name for herself in the modelling world.The star of Channel 4’s new docuseries New Model Agency has featured in Vogue, modelled for brands including Burberry, and now considers her skin condition vitiligo to be a superpower. However, it has been a long and painful journey to self-acceptance for Jas, who reveals she was cruelly bullied at school and forced to drink cow’s urine in a bid to cure her condition, which causes white patches to develop on the face and body. “There were times where I just thought, ‘What even is the point any more?’” Jas tells OK!.

Angelique Jackson A new cohort of emerging content creators have been selected for the second edition of Hoorae and Walmart’s “Black and Unlimited” digital development program. The program aims to provide content creators from diverse backgrounds with the necessary resources, membership and exposure to “unlock their full potential and pave their way to success.” The new class will receive a $10,000 stipend to help them focus on limitless discovery and creation.

Todd Spangler NY Digital Editor After critics slammed Google‘s “woke” generative AI system, the company halted the ability of its Gemini tool to create images of people to fix what it acknowledged were “inaccuracies in some historical image generation depictions.” Google’s Gemini, formerly known as Bard, began offering text-to-image generative features this month. The problem appeared to be that, in trying to compensate for gender- and racial-representation bias in AI, the system was creating ahistorical images of people.

Angelina Jolie is heading out after a day of work.

A major road in Oldham is due to shut for three nights this week. The Oldham Way between Manchester Street roundabout and Prince Street will be closed to traffic for resurfacing works from 8PM on February 21 to 23.

EXCLUSIVE: Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios announced the launch of The Showtime/MTV Entertainment Studios Storytellers Lab, an initiative designed to create partnerships with Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) to cultivate diverse creator pipelines within the entertainment industry.

K.J. Yossman Author and screenwriter Giles Paley-Phillips is launching a new film production company called Eight Digits.

Katcy Stephan Actor and director Jack Huston is adding “podcast producer” to his resume. Huston will executive produce “Time Capsule: The Silver Chain,” a new podcast out Feb.

Ethan Shanfeld Young the Giant frontman Sameer Gadhia has teamed with SiriusXM to launch the new podcast “Point of Origin,” which is “dedicated to amplifying voices of color from around the world while challenging the homogenous narrative in alternative and indie rock music.” Brittany Howard, former singer of Alabama Shakes, will appear as the podcast’s first guest to discuss her latest solo studio effort, “What Now.” Each episode of “Point of Origin,” which is available on the SiriusXM app, will explore the lives and careers of musicians of color and include a fully curated “life playlist” full of the guest’s favorite songs. The podcast stems from Gadhia’s radio show of the same name, which aired on SiriusXM’s Alt Nation.