*Actor Harold Perrineau and several of his “Lost” co-stars are speaking out about the racism and racial stereotypes that were common on set.
The toxic set and failed leadership are unpacked in Maureen Ryan’s new book “Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood,” People reports. In excerpts published by Vanity Fair, former cast and crew members claim White actors received the highest salary and the most screen time on hit TV series.
Perrineau, who is Black and played Michael Dawson, was written off the show in 2008 after complaining about the original draft of the second episode of season two. In it, his character was indifferent about finding his kidnapped son.
As People reports, Perrineau said he expressed concern about being “another person who doesn’t care about missing Black boys, even in the context of fiction.”
Showrunners Damon Lindelof and Carlton Cuse ultimately decided to write Perrineau’s character off the show. Multiple insiders claim Lindelof later said the actor “called me racist, so I fired his ass.”
“Everyone laughed,” writer Monica Owusu-Breen said of the incident, according to the book, per People. “There was so much s—, and so much racist s—, and then laughter. It was ugly. I was like, ‘I don’t know if they’re perceiving this as a joke or if they mean it.’ But it wasn’t funny. Saying that was horrible.”
“Lost” ran from 2004 to 2010, and former performers claim they were told that the white characters Locke (Terry O’Quinn), Jack (Matthew Fox), Kate (Evangeline Lilly), and Sawyer (Josh Holloway) were the “hero characters.”
“It became pretty clear that I was the Black guy. Daniel [Dae Kim] was the Asian guy. And then you had Jack and Kate and Sawyer [who received more screen time],” Perrineau recalled, according to the book excerpt, People reports.
According to Perrineau, a producer said the series centered on white characters because they were most “relatable” to viewers.
Lindelof said his inexperience in the industry is to blame for the on-set issues. He responded to the allegations in the upcoming book, but it appears he has selective memory.
“What can I say? Other than it breaks my heart that that was Harold’s experience,” Lindelof said. “And I’ll just cede that the events that you’re describing happened 17 years ago, and I don’t know why anybody would make that up about me.”
“Every single actor had expressed some degree of disappointment that they weren’t being used enough…That was kind of part and parcel for an ensemble show, but obviously, there was a disproportionate amount of focus on Jack and Kate and Locke and Sawyer — the White characters,” he added. “Harold was completely and totally right to point that out. It’s one of the things that I’ve had deep and profound regrets about in the two decades since.”
Lindelof continued: “I do feel that Harold was legitimately and professionally conveying concerns about his character and how significant it was that Michael and Walt — with the exception of Rose — were really the only Black characters on the show.”
As People reports, Lindelof said in the book: “My level of fundamental inexperience as a manager and a boss, my role as someone who was supposed to model a climate of creative danger and risk-taking but provide safety and comfort inside of the creative process — I failed in that endeavor.”
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