Hobbit Racism?

Okay - so the issue is serious. But the fact that it is related to Hobbits, makes it amusing as well. Can there be brown-skinned Hobbits? May be not. From Dawn:

Peter Jackson’s troubled “The Hobbit” project was embroiled in a race row Monday over a casting agent sacked for telling a would-be extra she was too dark to play one of the pint-sized creatures.

The independent contractor who made the comments and placed an advertisement in a local newspaper specifying female hobbit extras “should have light skin tones” had been dismissed, a spokesman for Jackson’s Wingnut Films said.

“No such instructions were given, the crew member in question took it upon themselves to do that and it’s not something we instructed or condoned,” he told AFP.

The row erupted after Briton Naz Humphreys, who has Pakistani heritage, attended a casting session in the New Zealand city of Hamilton last week, queuing for three hours only to be told her skin tone was not suitable.

“It’s 2010 and I still can’t believe I’m being discriminated against because I have brown skin,” Humphreys told the Waikato Times newspaper.

And now Naz has started a Facebook group called, "Hire hobbits of all colours! Say no to hobbit racism!” Okay this may be a smart move.

And here are some other details of the incident:

The Waikato Times said video footage showed the casting agent telling people at the audition: “We are looking for light-skinned people. I’m not trying to be — whatever. It’s just the brief. You’ve got to look like a hobbit.” The agent also placed a classified advertisement in the Bay of Plenty Times listing essential requirements for potential hobbits, including age, 16-80, and height — below 170 cm (5 foot 7 inches) for men and 158cm (5ft 2in) for women. The additional demand for light skin tones applied only to women.

The casting agent has now been fired. Read the full story here.

And while we are on the topic of movies, here is the way Star Trek should have really ended:


I actually did have a problem with the new Star Trek movie - it had no sense of exploration or wonder in it, along with an awful ending - and so I actually prefer this alternate end to the film. Enjoy!