Warner Bros. recently cancelled plans to “paint down” a white stuntwoman to double for a black actress on Fox’s new show Gotham. WB initially tried to downplay the incident, but later said that it had made a “mistake” and would hire a black stuntwoman instead.
“A mistake was made this week in casting a stunt woman for a guest star in a particular scene on the show,” the studio said in a statement. “The situation has been rectified, and we regret the error.”
“Painting down” is a gentler term for black face, and its an issue that the black stunt community has been dealing with for decades. Hollywood labor union SAG-AFTRA condemns the practice calling it “unacceptable” and “improper,” but there is no language in their contract that expressly forbids it. They do say that studios must “endeavor” to find stunt performers who are the same race and gender as the actors they are doubling.
“[With] the process that we go through if we hear about this — and there’s a valid allegation that this is going on — it’s too late to do anything about it,” Adam Moore, the national director of EEO (Equal Employment Opportunity) & Diversity for SAG-AFTRA, told BuzzFeed News. “The first thing we’d like to do is get out ahead of it and make sure it doesn’t happen. If it has happened and we find out about it, we communicate to the signatory producer that we’re aware of an alleged paint-down, and we require that they investigate this allegation.”
64-year-old Jadie David, a trailblazing black stuntwoman, was one of the people who made sure this story got out. When she heard about the incident, she contacted everyone she knew, then proceeded to call the Screen Actors’ Guild and the press. Warner Bros. announced its change soon thereafter.
David and her contemporaries worked hard to pave the way for stunt performers of color. She worked to promote stunt jobs for people of color with stuntman Marvin Walters. In 1971, Walters led the first public protest of the “painting down” controversy after it was discovered that a white stuntman was cast to double for Lou Gossett Jr. in the Warner Bros. film Skin Game. He filed lawsuits on behalf of the Coalition of Black Stuntmen and Women and he won.
Walters, now 76, said, “In 1976, I filed 32 EEO charges against the motion picture industry, and I won five settlement agreements.” David said that damages were paid to all stunt men and women of color as a result of Walters’ efforts.
David is upset to have to deal with the ridiculous practice again.
“Fast-forward to today, and we are again faced with a Caucasian stunt woman who was going to be painted down to double for an African-American actress, ironically again, in a Warner Bros. production. The excuse of the past that there are no qualified African-Americans to hire is gone; there is a huge pool of qualified African-American women to choose from and many were available for work. The studios all have fair employment policies in place, as does SAG-AFTRA. This blatant disrespect of African-American stunt women is beyond the pale. Will the lesson ever be learned?”