Ava DuVernay Sheds Light On Why Many Black Actors End Up In Tortured Wigs

At some point, we’ve all seen a talented black actor or actress in a horrendous or offensive wig and our first thought is, “Why Lord?”

Award-winning writer and director Ava DuVernay took to social media to shed light on the breakdown behind the scenes that result in the audience enduring a “tortured wig.”

Responding to a fan, Ava wrote:

Not enough non-black directors hiring black department heads to do the job. Not enough black stylists being pulled into the union to do these jobs at the highest level, even for black directors. The audience suffers as we watch, distracted by tortured wigs! Yes, avoidable!

Most studios won’t pay for a separate hair stylist for black actors who they don’t consider “A-list.” And actors shouldn’t have to pay expenses to look decent in a film. So that’s how you get crazy wigs that look like they wanna leap of the screen and run to a salon headless.

Peep the original tweets below:

https://twitter.com/ava/status/1226274137095540736
https://twitter.com/ava/status/1226278090663284736

I’ve seen different actresses speak out about having to hire their own stylist in order to look decent in whatever film or TV project they are working on.

It’s a shame…hopefully, a change gone come.


Discover more from Ice Cream Conversations

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

Please share your thoughts on this post!