Cyrus Langhorne
The makers behind rap group N.W.A.'s upcoming Straight Outta Compton biopic have caught some heat over descriptions used in its casting call advertisement. #andddcut
Details of the controversial casting call surfaced across the Internet Thursday (July 17).
The ad went viral — with the casting company inviting L.A.-based women to apply for one of several categories of extras that will be featured in the film. The casting agency used an A, B, C, D scale to group the women. Here’s the breakdown: A) “Hottest of the hottest. Models” (open to women of any race) B) “Fine … Beyonce is a protoype here” (light-skinned women) C) African American girls … Medium to light skinned with a weave D) “These are African American girls. Poor, not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone.” People were upset … since the “D” group was the only group associated with an economic class — “poor” — and it was made up of only dark-skinned, out of shape black women. (TMZ)
Despite the backlash, the casting call company has denied the accusations.
But we spoke with a rep for Sande Alessi Casting who tells us … the ad was an “innocent mistake” — and when it comes to casting the “poor” people, they’re also looking for women of various skin tones and body types. As for people who claim the A,B,C,D grouping system was racist — Sande Alessi Casting says it’s the usual method they use to look for different types of people for any project and it wasn’t meant to offend anyone. (TMZ)
Recently, late member Eazy-E‘s son/rapper Lil Eazy-E blamed gossip site TMZ for misquoting him about not being cast in the flick.
Earlier this week, TMZ wrote that Lil E was “outraged” that Ice Cube had cast his own son in the movie but did not cast Lil E to portray his father. The younger rapper claims he was misquoted and that he has no ill will for Ice Cube. “[TMZ] just asked me, ‘You’re not mad? Everyone in the office is mad,'” he said. “I said, ‘OK, well, why don’t you put it that “TMZ is mad at Cube?”‘ ‘Oh, we can’t do that politically.’ If they can understand the political value in that, how can you not understand the political value of what’s going on in the situation in why I did not get the role? (Rolling Stone)
A photo of Cube, Dr. Dre and director F. Gary Gray with the new cast surfaced last month.
Dre will be played by classically-trained actor Marcus Callender, Ice Cube’s son O’Shea Jackson Jr. will fill in for his famous father, and Jason Mitchell (Broken City, Contraband) will take on the role of the late Eazy-E. Cube and Dre posed alongside the actors and director F. Gary Gray. “Finally found the cast for the NWA movie. Me, Gary Gray, Dre w/ Cube, Eazy & Dre #StraightOuttaCompton coming 8/14/15,” tweeted Cube. Straight Outta Compton hits theaters on August 14, 2015. Production is set to begin this summer. (Rap-Up)
