By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | May 15, 2017 |
By Kristy Puchko | Celebrity | May 15, 2017 |
Last week we reported Ni’ihau, a new movie about the heroic actions of a Native Hawaiian, is the latest in Hollywood’s love affair with whitewashing. Black Sails’s Zach McGowan will star as Benehakaka Kanahele. And as you probably expected, McGowan has vocal defenders who have tried several weak arguments to justify his casting. Chief among his defenders is his brother, Matt McGowan, who the last few days is making things worse on Twitter.
After retweeting a bunch of celebratory tweets about his brother’s casting in Ni’ihau, Matt seemingly caught wind of the whitewashing accusations. And he responded by inexplicably pointing out that if anybody should whitewash a person of color role, it should be his brother, who’s had plenty of experience!
thinking about @Zach_McGowan and his portrayal of a Romani, a nomadic ethnic group, in @DraculaUntold #tbt #ZachMcGowan #Shkelgim pic.twitter.com/mkO1fr5NMr
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 12, 2017
Thinking about @Zach_McGowan and his breakout role playing Jody Silverman, of Native American descent, in @SHO_Shameless #ZachMcGowan #tbt pic.twitter.com/9Tzyx81mfB
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 12, 2017
Also Zach played a Russian. Which isn’t whitewashing, but Matt doesn’t seem to understand that.
Thinking about @Zach_McGowan and his portrayal of a Russian on both @MarvelAgents and @nbcsvu #ZachMcGowan #tbt pic.twitter.com/RXytrKInx7
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 12, 2017
Then Matt tried another tactic, pointing out that Zach has Native Hawaiian friends, a variant of the “I can’t be racist; I have a Black friend” defense.
For what it's worth, I'm a #hawaiian filmmaker and i think @Zach_McGowan is a cool guy, worked with him a couple times pic.twitter.com/Cfm3QRr4zv
— What's On Draft? (@WhatsOnDraftTV) May 11, 2017
Then he retweeted an interview with Asian-American actor Daniel Wu, where the Into The Badlands star said of the Iron Fist and Ghost In the Shell whitewashing controversies:
“So I know Asian Americans are angry, but they should calm down and choose the correct fight in that case — I agree that Marvel missed the chance of doing something interesting and casting against the race — they could have done that — and that would have given them some credit, but they didn’t, so what are you going to do about it? I think the important thing is that everyone learned a lesson from that — including people that weren’t involved, so I think we just need to move forward, that’s all.”
Smart man. We are with you @danielwuyanzu https://t.co/zmjgWolOFV #ZachMcGowan #niihaumovie #niihau
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
Notably, Wu doesn’t speak at all about Ni’ihau. But that doesn’t stop McGowan from hashtagging it as if one Asian-American actor rejecting two examples of Asian erasure means that it’s totally never a problem ever. He also ignores Wu’s comments that producers need to “learn” from the uproar of Iron Fist. Making matters ickier, the conservative site PJ Media, which ran this article, uses “SJW” with no irony, and ends it with this gem of personal commentary: “And the truth is that accusations of ‘cultural appropriation’ are as racist as it gets, anyway.”
If accusations of cultural appropriation are as racist as things get for you, you might be a privileged white crybaby.
But Matt wasn’t through yet. He then began taking on all-comers who dared suggest his brother’s taking the role of a Native Hawaiian was less than awesome. He was civil, but clueless.
@Tomoo_Terada @jessytemple @danielwuyanzu @kulturewatchdog @underratedPOC @ConstanceWu @ZachMcGowan knowing my brother and my family as I do, I can assure you that he/we respect Asian & Pacific Islander. We are also open to conversation
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
Hey! That one made Rebecca’s list of bullshit reasons to justify whitewashing.
Then he turned it around, arguing it’s not Zach’s fault for accepting the role. It’s the fault of the more ethnically appropriate choices that they didn’t take it. Note, we have no idea if any of the below were offered the part.
@carlalove @PrideofGypsies @kaladacaptain have u asked Jason Momoa, Dwayne Johnson, Kala Alexander, Keanu Reaves, et al is they were asked and if so why they didn't do it?
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
@Tomoo_Terada @jessytemple @danielwuyanzu @kulturewatchdog @underratedPOC @ConstanceWu @Zach_McGowan @joseph_lachman @keikoinboston @thetamlyntomita @writergabriel @jennyyangtv @reappropriate @KeikoAgena @SarahNEmerson @djjkim @NextShark @bennyluo Have you asked them why they are not playing the part? Were they approached? Did they consider? Thinking you may want to do that
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
When someone argued that the script was problematic, and so might have turned off Native Hawaiian talent, Matt had a response to that too.
@joseph_lachman @Tomoo_Terada @jessytemple @danielwuyanzu @kulturewatchdog @underratedPOC @ConstanceWu @Zach_McGowan @keikoinboston @thetamlyntomita @writergabriel @jennyyangtv @reappropriate @KeikoAgena @SarahNEmerson @djjkim @NextShark @bennyluo The script is one persons interpretation of the past. Is it accurate? Is it supposed to be accurate? Guess that depends on POV and purpose
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
@joseph_lachman @Tomoo_Terada @jessytemple @danielwuyanzu @kulturewatchdog @underratedPOC @ConstanceWu @Zach_McGowan @keikoinboston @thetamlyntomita @writergabriel @jennyyangtv @reappropriate @KeikoAgena @SarahNEmerson @djjkim @NextShark @bennyluo Can you point to a definitive w/o a doubt, 100% accurate, source of what transpired? If so, should Hollywood be bound by "truths"?
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
As if anyone expects any docudrama to be 100% true. As if that’s the issue here, and not the Asian erasure that would take a historic moment that involved specifically Native Hawaiians and swaps in a white guy, presumably to make history more palatable to mainstream (white) audiences. On one hand, I admire that Matt engaged so openly in this discussion. On the other, I can’t respect how he refused to actually listen to the complaints, and just kept deflecting with facile arguments and platitudes. Witness Matt missing the point again.
@keikoinboston @joseph_lachman its a good question and unfortunately no one wants to tell my story =( that said I do think I would be ok with it /1
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
And he’d like you to remember that the real victim here are the filmmakers.
@joseph_lachman @reappropriate @Tomoo_Terada @jessytemple @danielwuyanzu @kulturewatchdog @underratedPOC @ConstanceWu @Zach_McGowan @keikoinboston @thetamlyntomita @writergabriel @jennyyangtv @KeikoAgena @SarahNEmerson @djjkim @NextShark @bennyluo @DEADLINE Zach and the team that hired him on @NiihauMovie are most defn listening. I promise you that. Unfort they are also feeling attacked.
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 13, 2017
@keikoinboston @joseph_lachman @writergabriel @NiihauMovie their silence is mostly due to feeling threatened. they were not prepared for the #CyberBullying they experienced these last few days
— Matt McGowan (@matt_mcgowan) May 14, 2017
@matt_mcgowan @keikoinboston @joseph_lachman @writergabriel @NiihauMovie Oh my god. Y'all are WHITE and have no business playing a native Hawaiian. a SIMPLE AS THAT
— Salty McSalt (@OhItsRichard) May 14, 2017
In the midst of all this, Matt was presumably looking for more and more articles that called out Ni’ihau over its whitewashing. Presumably, he found mine. Or else it’s a super weird coincidence that he followed me yesterday.
Hi, Matt.