Remember that time the Internet kind of lost its shit because Meryl Streep was quoted as saying something kind of really stupid? Namely, that "we're all Africans, really"? Well as it turns out, that's not what she said in full, and the Internet maybe conflated Streep's "misrepresentated" quote with the racist drivel of Charlotte Rampling. However the full quote, corrected by an article on Mashable, is no more intelligible.
This all started at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this month during a panel led by Streep, jury president. When the all-white panel was addressed with a question about diversity, Streep reportedly seized the opportunity to answer this question to the best of her ability. Part of her response did indeed include the sound bite, "We're all Africans, really." I don't know what she was actually trying to drive at, but here's the response in full. PerMashable:
CORRECTION: Meryl Streep’s “We’re all Africans, really” comment was a direct response to a question about Arab and African films, not a response to questions about the Berlinale Film Festival’s all white jury, as the article and headline originally suggested. A recording of the panel shows that Streep’s original comments were misrepresented in subsequent reports.
As Jezebelpoints out, this clarification comes some weeks since the original story ran, and it's unclear what prompted the correction. (Perhaps the wrath of a scorned Meryl?) Is this a better response? Maybe not. In any event, maybe it's time white actors take a break from commenting on Hollywood's diversity problem for a minute?
