Oscar-winning director Michael Moore thinks the lack of diversity in Hollywood is a form of apartheid.
The 61-year-old Bowling for Columbine filmmaker has never been afraid to speak his mind. With female equality in the movie industry one of the hottest topics for discussion at the moment, Michael couldn’t help but share his thoughts on the issue.
“This is the most liberal of all industries, when you use the word ‘industry’ in this country, and for it to be so shamelessly white and male'” he asked during a Q&A session at the New York Film Festival, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “I’m telling you, anthropologists are not gonna look kindly on us. We’re gonna look like Neanderthals, and they’re gonna say, ‘Even the liberal ones, the liberal ones let 1.9 per cent of the majority gender make movies.' It’s a form of apartheid, folks, when a minority controls everything and the majority gets a bone thrown to them. That’s just absolutely wrong.”
Michael made reference to a recent University of Southern California statistic which found only 1.9 per cent of the top-grossing 100 films over the past two years were directed by women. He's amazed that females are "so nice" towards men considering these shocking findings.
“Women (and) especially men need to say this, and say it over and over and then do something about it," he continued. "My guild, the Writers Guild (of America), Directors Guild (of America), we have to fix this. This is absolutely wrong,"
Michael insisted he was speaking out on the matter not just as a fellow filmmaker and liberal wanting to make a politically correct statement, but as a film lover too.
“I’m missing out on her story,” he said. “Their stories. That person. When you block out whole groups of film by that cinema, what are the great films that you and I are missing because their great voices can’t be heard' I want to go to that movie. I want to hear that voice. I’m being denied that voice by a system that’s sent out to give the reins to white men.”