If you have seen David Henry Hwang’s excellent play Yellow Face (playing until 11/24 in New York at the Roundabout Theatre Company), or listened to it on Audible, you may have questions about what’s real and what’s not. In particular, can casting decisions take race into account? The play does reflect the state of the law in the 1990s when the play is set, but the law has changed since then, thanks in part to a lawsuit involving the TV show the Bachelor.
Generally speaking, federal anti-discrimination laws prevent employers from considering race in making hiring decisions. As a result, some thought that you could not consider race in making casting decisions, though you could consider physical appearance. Basically, you could look for actors who looked like they were of a particular race, but you had to be open to actors who were not actually of that race.
This view got tested in 2012, when two black men who unsuccessfully applied to be the “Bachelor” in 2011 brought a lawsuit alleging employment discrimination because all the Bachelors and Bachelorettes as of that time had been white (Claybrooks v. American Broadcasting Companies, Inc.). A federal court noted that the lawsuit sought to “support the social acceptance of interracial relationships, to eradicate outdated racial taboos, and to encourage television networks not to perpetuate outdated racial stereotypes,” and the court noted that this cause was “laudable.”
Even so, the court dismissed the lawsuit because the First Amendment protected casting decisions that might violate anti-discrimination laws in other contexts. The court found that casting decisions were “part and parcel of the creative process behind a television program” and thus merited First Amendment protection.
“Whatever messages The Bachelor and The Bachelorette communicate or are intended to communicate – whether explicitly, implicitly, intentionally, or otherwise – the First Amendment protects the right of the producers of [the shows] to craft and control those messages,” the court wrote.
The court also noted that applying federal anti-discrimination laws to casting decisions would have far-reaching consequences. “Would applying anti-discrimination laws require a playwright to consider white actors to paly Othello, black actors to play Macbeth, or a male to play Lady MacBeth? For that matter, could a dramatist face civil liability for staging an all-female version of Romeo & Juliet?” The court’s ruling avoided such consequences and has been applied in at least one recent court case involving a Broadway musical.
As a result, much of Yellow Face’s plot makes sense for how the law was interpreted in and around the 1990s, but it does not depict how the law is generally interpreted today for casting decisions.
For more notes by me about Yellow Face, including a discussion of the Wen Ho Lee case, go to https://lnkd.in/gfiwbJjq
Texas McCombs MBA 2025
7moYes, and yes. Firstly, when I entered my Netflix account this new “Good Times” remake started playing without me selecting it. I was confused (and didn’t know there was a remake) but continued to watch because, HELLO, it’s “Good Times!” Idk if I made it past 2 min. I certainly turned it off before the intro concluded. I’m very disappointed. Especially when creators like Issa are having their work cancelled by networks… Probably my longest LinkedIn rant to date 😂 Thank you for the space. It’s problematic.