Director and screenwriter Lena Waithe shared some interesting thoughts as of late. The creative has been on the rise in the past few years with budding projects in film and television. In an interview with the New York Times, the producer emphasized that the success of movies like Moonlight and Get Out stems from the unique and unmatched skill of Black creatives, which she believes was ignored for a long time. "I think black people in this industry are making art that is so specific and unique and good that the studio heads have no choice but to throw money at us. They’re saying, ‘How can we support you and stand next to you?’ The tricky part is that they want to be allies and they want to be inclusive, but they also want to make money," added Waithe.
Waithe believes it all comes back to money and the creative encouraged Black folks in the industry to invest their coins to spread the wealth and finance smaller projects. "And don’t get me started on black financiers! How many of those do we have? I’m not [going to name] names because I know better, but there are some very big black movie stars out there, and they could pay for two or three or even five small independent movies to get made by black directors and black writers." Waithe's comments were met by either support or rivalry on social media. While some encouraged the investment of Black dollars into Black movies, others condemned the creator of The Chi and emphasized that folks should be able to spend their money wherever they want. Some even brought in the recent controversy surrounding Lena Waithe's show The Chi and the sexual assault allegations tied to its recurring actor, Jason Mitchell.
