The discussion surrounding diversity and racism in Hollywood goes well beyond the lack of Black people in front of and behind the cameras. As was recently pointed out by an actress that served as an extra on the set of “Lovecraft Country,” sometimes the racism on set is a bit more nuanced than you might expect, especially when it comes down to colorism.
In a recent TikTok, actress Kelli Amirah talked about her experience working as an extra on the set of “Lovecraft Country,” where she would play a younger version of another character for a wedding photo. According to the actress, when she was in the makeup chair getting ready for the shoot, she overheard the makeup artists talking about how her skin tone was too light for the character. And apparently, the artists decided to take matters into their own hands to make her skin tone match.
“I noticed my foundation is getting darker and darker,” Amirah explained. “Before I show these pictures, I’m going to preface this by saying I was so uncomfortable. I had no idea they were going to do this to me beforehand. And if I knew beforehand, I would not have accepted this job. Who thought this was a good idea?”
She then shows some “after” pictures of what her makeup looked like for the show, which is clearly much darker than her natural skin tone, looking like, as Amirah would later call it, Blackface.
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In response to the video, HBO released a statement via THR. The network said it is “very disappointed” to learn of the issue. “This should not have happened, and we are taking steps to ensure this doesn’t occur again in the future,” said the statement.
In a long Twitter thread, the actress also defended herself from folks saying she was complacent in the colorism on set. She explained that being positioned next to “the lead stars” in the trailer made her feel unable to speak up during the process.
“So here I am, in the makeup trailer of a major network production with the lead stars of the show, and they’re putting me in blackface,” Amirah said. “Now as this was happening I had so many conflicting thoughts in my head. This is wrong. Why did they hire me? I should say something. What would I say? What would happen? If I hold up this production how much money goes down the drain. What will be my repercussions?”
She added, “I’m a little fish with the big guys. And I choked. I didn’t say shit. I got very quiet and withdrawn and went through with the job like a coward. I was selfish and more concerned with the repercussions of my own career instead of doing what’s right and not participating in something that I KNEW was wrong.”
It’s clear the actress has regrets about how she handled it. However, regardless of her own issues with how the situation occurred, HBO clearly understands that what happened shouldn’t have happened.
You can see the first season of “Lovecraft Country” on HBO and HBO Max.