BLOG: SIDIBE’S SUCCESS EXPOSES STERN’S SILLINESS

The lights had barely dimmed on the 82nd Academy Awards when shock jock Howard Stern opened his mouth with an ignorant assessment of Gabourey Sidibe, the Oscar-nominated star of “Precious.” Stern and his sidekick, Robyn Quivers, mocked Gabby’s size and her weight and said that Oprah Winfrey was lying when she said during the Academy Awards that Sidibe was on the threshold of a brilliant career. Stern said: "Everyone's pretending she's a part of show business and she's never going to be in another movie.”

Howard Stern audio:

Well, obviously, Howard Stern doesn’t know what he’s talking about because Gabourey Sidibe has already finished two additional projects: the independent film “Yelling to the Sky” from actress-turned-director Victoria Mahoney, and “The Big C” a dark comedy series starring Laura Linney that debuts on Showtime this summer.

Now, Howard Stern was right about one thing – there are a lot of myopic, narrow-minded people in Hollywood who are interested only in skinny white actors and actresses in their 20s. We were reminded of that when Vanity Fair magazine excluded Gabby Sidibe from its “Young Hollywood” cover. Actresses of color and of size do not get inundated with job offers in Hollywood.

But in spite of that, Gabourey Sidibe does indeed have a promising future ahead of her. First of all, there are progressive, imaginative people working in movies and TV who operate outside the young, thin, white world defined by things like The CW, the “Twilight” franchise and Vanity Fair. Second of all, black filmmakers are going to make sure Gabourey Sidibe continues to work!

What Howard Stern, the editors of Vanity Fair and other close-minded people fail to realize is that black Americans are historically the “make a way out of no way” folks. Our progress has never depended on us waiting for somebody in power to give us a chance. We have always created opportunities where none previously existed. The legendary black filmmaker Oscar Micheaux wrote, produced, directed and distributed his own movies starting in 1919! From that day to this, decade after decade, black folks have generated their own projects – garnering acclaim, high ratings and big box office in the process! “Precious” is just the latest example of black filmmakers coming together to realize a vision against the odds.

So, even if nobody else in Hollywood is interested (and I don’t believe that’s the case) the African-American film community is going to make sure that Gabourey Sidibe and a lot of other talented artists get the opportunity to display their talents and, in the process, continue to redefine standards for Tinsel Town.

Thanks for listening. I’m Cameron Turner and that’s my two cents.

THINK! IT AIN’T ILLEGAL…YET!

Read more "Turner's Two Cents" on www.EURweb.com, and in the Pasadena Journal newspaper (www.PasadenaJournal.com). In Los Angeles, watch for Turner on the groundbreaking news show "The Filter with Fred Roggin" on KNBC Channel 4 and NBC+ Digital Cable.