Authenticity, or Nah?

Authenticity, or Nah?

Author's Note:  I wrote 99% of this post when the incident initially happened, but didn't post for a year. The proverbial ish already hit the fan in the Fall of 2019, and I revisited and decided to publish.

The Situation

I found myself in a bit of a sticky situation the other day.  A VO colleague of mine, who is an established, white female talent who I've never met in person, graciously referred me to her client.  She had just completed a radio commercial, and the client wanted to create an urban version of the spot.  I was very excited to hear this news and honored that she picked thought of me.

In the spot, there are 3 characters. I played the "wife" role, and ironically, the person who played my husband has the same first name as my late husband.  (This actor is also black.)  However, the third character was played by a white female pretending to be black. She uses a different name when she does this (her nickname is spelled differently, and a completely different last name that could be used by a white or black person without being noticed).  She actually has more than one, um, "stage name" for her Black alter-ego. 

Oh yeah, and she happens to be someone I know.  An acquaintance. Someone who I have paid for coaching and marketing services.  She speaks at conferences, has a popular podcast, and is someone I somewhat looked up to.

Someone I respected. 

Not Her First Rodeo

I had heard about this mysterious woman in different Facebook groups but never knew that I knew her (because of the name she uses). Apparently, she has been using different African American personas for many years, and purchased and renewed multiple domain names that would make one think that she is indeed Black.

Except, she’s not.

We had a directed session, I heard her voice, and was like, Whaaaaat???? - on the inside. Not only did I know her voice, but she coached me via Skype not more than a week prior to this session.

Yes, it was her.

I remained cool, calm and collected during the session, but shortly afterward, on principle, I reached out to one of my VO friends, another Black woman, and told her.

She knew all about it.*  Apparently, they are on the same talent agency roster in North Carolina, which requires all of their talent to use a pseudonym.

The fake name wasn't the part I was appalled about.  It was the fact that she was purporting herself to be a Black woman, and had her personas (plural) on multiple websites with URLs that also indicated that the person was Black.

The Whistleblower

Once I finished talking to my friend, I called the director and told him-- _____ is not black.* 

He. Was. STUNNED. She had him fooled until the session.  He said she didn't have the sound he wanted, but didn't suspect anything. And to make matters worse, the voice actor who referred us both for this commercial knows that I am black and she is white (this is important, as it was an “urban” commercial to be played on African American radio stations in Texas).

This whole "blaccent" business really disturbs me, period, but finding out that someone I respect and have worked with several times is doing it, is beyond me.  

The Aftermath

In November 2019, the voice actor in question* posted an "apology" in a couple of Facebook groups (which mentioned that she is "good at voicing Black characters," and that threatened legal action for defamation).

It was not a real apology, and it was not received well.  A lot of people just don't get it. They think, "It's voice ACTING, so what?"

Wrong attitude.++

The Facebook thread got REALLY ugly, and many of us were emotional. For me, it was a one-time incident, but many others knew it had been going on for YEARS.

And casting directors, agents etc. didn’t seem to care.

Why This Matters

There are so many talented voices of color-- and we are so underrepresented in VO.  https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/small-doses-with-amanda-seales/id1333316223?mt=2&i=1000403230888  It bothers me that someone pretends to be a different race and gets away with it, at the expense of other talented individuals that want a chance to be seen and heard.

This is no doubt a controversial issue. Some people think that if you can do any accent, whether it be Spanish, British, etc. that you should be able to audition for that role.

I don't agree.  Remember the outrage of Rachel Dolezal, anyone?

Many people feel emotional about this, those who have tried to address this person over the last few years (I was late to the party, evidently).  But really, it's up to the people making decisions (casting directors, agents) to put the kabosh on this.  What happened to authenticity and integrity?

If you can truly pull off the "accent" being sought, that's fine. Lots of voice actors perform different characters such as children's voices, but when you go to their website and you don't see that person, but a caricature of a person instead of the actual voice actor who is performing the character, that is the ultimate ethical misrepresentation.  Don't pretend to be a different ethnicity with a secret, separate persona (name, website, etc.).  Lying is not professional.  In any industry.  It's not "just business."  Have some integrity.

NOTES:

*Within a week of our conversation, my friend did a podcast about this situation and called her out by name. The podcast episode was nominated for a 2019 Voice Arts Award (SOVAS). 

++For more on Blackface in VO, also catch this enlightening VO School Podcast episode about racial identity in VO with my friends who knew all about this before I did.