Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour apologises for not elevating black creatives enough

#BLACKLIVESMATTER

Vogue’s Anna Wintour has apologised in an internal email for “mistakes” made in her 32-year tenure in not doing enough to elevate black voices on her staff and publishing images and stories that have been racially and culturally “hurtful or intolerant.” She wrote: “Meanwhile, I want to say plainly that I know Vogue has not found enough ways to elevate and give space to Black editors, writers, photographers, designers and other creators. We have made mistakes too, publishing images or stories that have been hurtful or intolerant. I take full responsibility for those mistakes.”

The top editor and a co-founder of the lifestyle site Refinery29, Christene Barberich, resigned after former employees complained on social media of a toxic culture and unfair treatment of staff members of colour over the years. Meanwhile, Samira Nasr was named the first editor in chief of colour in the 153-year history of U.S. Harper’s Bazaar.



Friends casting director apologies for lack of inclusivity

As the Black Lives Matter protests have brought about new avenues for conversations surrounding lack of representation and racism, co-creator and casting director Marta Kauffman has since apologised, wishing the show had been more diverse. "I wish I knew then what I knew today, I would have made very different decisions. We've always encouraged people of diversity in our company, but I didn't do enough," she confessed.

"Now all I can think about is what can I do, what can I do differently? How can I run my show in a new way? That's

something I wish I knew when I started show running, but all the way up through last year." Kauffman was also a writer and executive producer on the show, which began airing in 1994 with Jennifer Aniston, David Schwimmer, Courteney Cox, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow and Matthew Perry, an all white star cast in leading roles. Schwimmer, who played the role of Ross Geller, said he was well aware of the lack of diversity. “I campaigned for years to have Ross date women of colour," he confessed. "One of the first girlfriends I had on the show was an Asian American woman, and later I dated African American women. That was a very conscious push on my part."



Daren Sammy shares his experience of being called by racist names during IPL

The West-Indian all-rounder and Pakistan’s most favourite international player who gained immense love and respect ever since he started playing for Pakistan Super League. Recently after watching a segment of Hasan Minhaj’s show on the hypocrisy of the South-Asian communities towards black people, he realised that what a specific term meant which he was often referred to as when he was playing in India during IPL. He then, took to Instagram to share his anger as he came to know that the term was not at all praise as he had assumed. "I just learnt what Kallu meant when I played for Sunrisers in IPL. They called me and Perera by that name. I thought it meant Strong Stallion." He added, "I say this because of what I've experienced. I remembered when I played for Sunrisers in 2014, I was called that exact word that was degrading to Black people. I got very angry about it, knowing now what that word meant. I will be messaging those people, you know who you are. Every time I was called this, there was laughter in the moment. Me being a team man, I thought it must be something funny but you can understand my frustration and my anger when it was pointed out to me that it wasn't funny at all. It was degrading."

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