Malala Yousafzai Calls Out Hollywood For Not Giving Enough Exposure To Muslim Talent

TV and films have the power to influence minds and which is why the accurate representation of society and its people is of utmost importance. Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai is all for representation.

 

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Hence, recently, the human rights activist called out Hollywood for not giving enough exposure to Muslim talent and representing her community enough. She specifically stressed the fact that Muslim actors only make up 1 percent of popular television series leads, reported India TV.

“I learned that Asian people like me make up less than 4 per cent of leads in Hollywood films. Muslims are 25 per cent of the population, but only 1 per cent of characters in popular TV series.”

Malala further stated during an event, “I know that the executives have passed on dozens of quality, equally amazing projects because tthey thought that the characters or their creators were too young, too brown, too foreign, too poor. Sometimes it feels like they’re saying we just don’t belong here.”

 

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Yousafzai recently revealed the first batch of projects coming from her production company Extracurricular and intends to tell representative stories.

“I know the tale of having a dream and being told to forget it. Today, I am a storyteller, activist, and producer,” she concluded.

Earlier, actor Andrea Kevichüsa spoke on the representation of Northeast India in films. This is one thing that every film industry should consciously make an effort towards.

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