Oscar-nominated director Lee Daniels (Precious) appeared Tuesday on the daytime talk show The Real to speak about his new television series Star, which centers on a young, burgeoning girl group. When asked why he considered it “important” to feature a “white girl” in the lead role, he answered with a somewhat unusual explanation:
In the beginning, [Star] is told through a white girl’s perspective because I felt that the country—instinctively, I thought—needed to heal. I think that this white girl is so fabulous that black people will embrace her and white people will embrace her.
The obvious implication here—seeing as Daniels also described racial tensions in America as equivalent to “a civil war”—is he felt that leading with a white face was necessary in the effort to bridge racial divides.
Of course, Daniels has a reputation for making extreme and controversial statements that are later clarified or walked back. But the awfully disjointed sincerity with which he made this particular statement was rather strange. His other TV series, Empire—which features exclusively black characters in the lead roles and has directly invoked Black Lives Matter—was praised upon arrival for drawing a huge and diverse audience. And his work tends to boldly (even erratically) communicate ideas about race and inequality, and Daniels has indicated that this will continue with Star. But as for how presenting the show’s narrative from the perspective of a “fabulous white girl” is going to help the country heal? This remains unclear.
