‘The Bold Type’ Actress Aisha Dee Calls For More Diversity On Set: In 4 Seasons, We’ve Had 1 Black Woman Direct 2 Episodes

Aisha Dee

‘The Bold Type’ Actress Aisha Dee Calls For More Diversity On Set: In 4 Seasons, We’ve Had 1 Black Woman Direct 2 Episodes

“The Bold Type” actress Aisha Dee, 26, is one of the latest celebrities to call out a lack of diversity in Hollywood. She took to her Instagram Wednesday (July 15th), calling out the lack of diversity on set the Freeform series.

The show premiered in 2017, and Aisha Dee plays the role of Kat Edison.

She captioned the heartfelt post:

“for us ??”

She writes that the diversity in front of the camera should match behind the scenes,

“I am ready to push harder and speak louder for what matters to me: The diversity we see in front of the camera needs to be reflected in the diversity of the creative team behind the camera,”

She goes on to mention that the first two seasons didn’t have a single person of color in the writers’ room.

“It took two seasons to get a single BIPOC in the writers’ room for ‘The Bold Type.’ And even then, the responsibility to speak for the entire Black experience cannot and should not fall on one person. We got to tell a story about a queer Black woman and a lesbian Muslim woman falling in love, but there have never been any queer Black or Muslim writers in the room. In four seasons (48 episodes) we’ve had one Black woman direct two episodes.”

She also acknowledged her ‘privilege’ as a biracial woman and said she wants to use her platform to demand better representation behind the camera.

“I live with a lot of privilege too. I’m biracial. I’m a light skinned, cis woman, who grew up around a lot of white people. ‘Code Switch’ is my middle name. I’ve been blessed with a career I could never have imagined, and am so grateful to be doing the thing I always dreamed of doing.  My experiences pale in comparison to the experiences of many.  So I want to use my platform to actively challenge the status quo and demand better and more authentic representation both in-front of behind the camera.”  

She ended her post by saying that this is “from my heart” and “not judgment” but a “call to action,”

“We deserve to see stories that are for us, by us.”

Producers of “The Bold Type,” Freeform and Universal Television have shown support for Aisha Dee and issued a statement,

“We applaud Aisha for raising her hand and starting conversations around these important issues. We look forward to continuing that dialogue and enacting positive change. Our goal on ‘The Bold Type’ is and has always been to tell entertaining, authentic stories that are representative of the world that Kat, Jane and Sutton live in — we can only do that if we listen”

See her full statement below:

“The Bold Type”  is a show about 3 millennial women who are best friends and work for an iconic female magazine in New York City.

What are your thoughts on Aisha Dee’s statement? Let us know in the comments.