One of the hosts of CBS' under-fire reality show concurs with some of its online critics and urges producers to make changes: "I'm not qualified to act as judge."
Actress and dancer Julianne Hough posted a multi-page reaction on Instagram responding the controversy surrounding the series, where six activists compete against each other to draw social media attention to various causes and are then judged by celebrities Hough, Usher and Priyanka Chopra Jonas.
While only the show’s description has been released so far — no trailer or episodes yet — critics have slammed the show as performative and misguided (one environmental online campaign activist dubbed it “the worst idea for a TV show ever”). Some have singled out Hough, who once wore blackface for a 2013 Halloween party, as perhaps not the best person to judge a group of progressive activists.Now the two-time Dancing With the Stars winner and judge has taken the unusual step of issuing a detailed reply that echoed many of the criticisms of the series and suggested she’s gone to the show’s producers urging changes to the format.
“I heard you say the show was performative, promoted pseudo-activism over real activism, felt tone-deaf, like Black Mirror, The Hunger Games, and that the hosts weren’t qualified to assess activism because they were celebrities and not activists,” Hough wrote. “I heard you say there was hypocrisy in the show because at the root of all activism is a fight against capitalism and the trauma that it causes so many people and that the show itself felt like a shiny capitalistic endeavor.”
“I also heard you say that trying to value one cause over another felt like the Oppression Olympics and totally missed and disrespected the many activists who have been killed, assaulted and faced various abuses fighting for their causes,” she continued. “And because of all this, there is a feeling of insult, dehumanization, insensitivity and hurt that is being rightfully felt.”
“I do not claim to be an activist and wholeheartedly agree that the judging aspect of the show missed the mark and, furthermore, that I am not qualified to act as a judge,” she wrote. “On top of all of this, many people are just becoming aware that I wore blackface in 2013, which only further added insult to injury. Wearing blackface was a poor choice based on my own white privilege and white body bias that hurt people and is something I regret doing to this day …”
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