Legendary director Steven Spielberg riled fans of the hit Netflix series Squid Games when he described the cast as “unknown people.”
“A long time ago it was domestic stars that brought the audience into movies,” Insider quoted him as saying during this past weekend’s Producer Guild Awards. “Today, it’s interesting, unknown people can star in entire miniseries, can be in movies.
“Folks, today’s whitest take, brought to you by Mr. Steven Spielberg and the LITERAL all-star cast of Squid Game.
“Arggg, more ethnocentrism courtesy of Americans who can’t see past their own borders,”tweeted another.
Argggg more ethnocentrism courtesy of Americans who can't see past their own borders. What series like Squid Game illustrate is exactly the opposite: that people around the world are satisfied with content other than English/white/US entertainment.https://t.co/T2jM0Y9Ns3 https://t.co/clXfkmeyXk
— Raphael Rashid (@koryodynasty) March 22, 2022
Many on social media pointed out that the cast included some of the biggest stars in Korea, including Lee Jung-jae, one of South Korea’s biggest stars, and O Yeong-su, reported The Independent.
Some, however, came to Spielberg’s defense, saying he meant it as a positive.
So far there’s been no comment from Spielberg to the controversy.
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Unknown to good ol’ curmudgeonly Steve. Yup, things were better in the good ol’ days when Stevie didn’t have to know actors beyond the good ol’ US of A.