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David Spade and Dana Carvey call out Hollywood’s focus on race and gender.
In a recent episode of their “Fly on the Wall” podcast, the two comedians questioned Hollywood’s emphasis on race and gender, with Spade arguing that the industry should “stop separating us like that” by highlighting those distinctions.
“On race, let me just say at any of these award shows, I saw a clip the other day saying, ‘And this gentleman won, and he’s the first black director to win for this documentary,’ I wish they would quit saying that because I think everyone we can’t all be equal to you,” Spade said. “‘Oh, the first in 30 years to have a black actor win this.’ If you just say we’re all actors . . .now this is my point of view, that it just makes it more even and not, we’re all just the same. We’re all acting.”
Carvey then joked that when he won his Emmy Award, they announced that he was the “198th straight white male that has won this award.”
Spade called out the focus on race and gender in Hollywood during a recent podcast episode. (Matt Winkelmeyer/Getty Images for Netflix)
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Spade also pointed out that while he was working on the hit NBC show, “Just Shoot Me,” from 1997 to 2003, they would inform him anytime they would be working with a female director that week.
“I [would] go, ‘That’s fine. Just is it a director? Yeah. Okay, we got it.’ Like you don’t even have to say that,” Spade said. “Female director. It feels like a little, not condescending, but a little diminishing. That’s a good word. It’s a little 5%. Instead of going, ‘We don’t have a regular director,’ you know what I mean? So, I was a big proponent of fighting that.”
Carvey agreed with his co-host, mentioning that “female director” is “a funny thing to say.”
In a previous episode of their podcast released in March, Spade gave his candid opinion on the state of Hollywood under the leadership of Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, “the Hollywood industry is dying” and that he’s “just trying to put the blame somewhere.”
Spade previously spoke about the state of Hollywood. (Phillip Faraone/VF25/Getty Images for Vanity Fair)
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“Dude, I’m so old,” he said. “I was on the lot at, uh, CBS Radford when we were doing ‘Just Shoot Me.’ … And also they were doing ‘Seinfeld,’ and I’d see him on his bike. It was the greatest lot. Of course, just filed for bankruptcy, the lot. Terrifying in LA Thanks, [LA Mayor] Karen Bass. Thanks, [Gov.] Gavin [Newsom].”
The mayor’s press office responded to Spade’s claims at the time, telling Digital in a statement, “Mayor Bass has championed the entertainment industry because it’s a bedrock of our middle class.
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“This year alone, she slashed filming fees at Griffith Observatory and reopened the LA Central Library to film production for the first time in over a decade,” the statement added. “Under her leadership, more than 3 million square feet of studio and creative office space have been approved, and over 120 sound stages are now under construction across Los Angeles.”
In April, Spade and Carvey revisited Hollywood’s struggles when comedian Tim Dillon joined their podcast as a guest.
Spade asked for Hollywood to become more of a priority when it comes to California leadership. (Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Netflix)
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During the episode, Spade recalled how he “got in trouble” for his previous comments, clarifying, “I wasn’t really mad at Gavin Newsom and Karen Bass.”
“I was just saying, ‘Could we make it a slightly more of a priority? I don’t know what we’re spending the money on that’s flowing in, because it’s a lot flowing in, but it goes out so quickly. I want to sort of reserve a little piece of the pie to like focus, like let’s try to get this back,’” Spade said. “That’s all.”
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Although Spade softened his criticism of California’s leadership, Dillon argued that Bass and Newsom “seem to think everything’s kind of going well,” adding, “When someone thinks things are going well, it’s very hard to make them understand” that people are leaving.
