Nelson Peltz, the activist investor agitating to win two Disney board seats, criticized the company’s “woke” strategy — specifically questioning Marvel’s “Black Panther” and “The Marvels,” which featured Black and women leads, respectively.
The 81-year-old Peltz, who has admitted he “never claimed” to have experience in the media business, made the comments about “The Marvels” and “Black Panther” in a recent interview with the Financial Times. “Why do I have to have a Marvel [movie] that’s all women?” Peltz asked rhetorically. “Not that I have anything against women, but why do I have to do that? Why can’t I have Marvels that are both? Why do I need an all-Black cast?”
“Black Panther” does not have an all-Black cast, nor does “The Marvels” have an all-female cast.
I like to compare the demographics of a cast to the demographics of the pool of applicants. If there’s a wild inconsistency, like an all-white cast in an area that is 30% white (NYC for example), chances are someone is actively filtering somewhere along the line.