Comedian Josh Thomas has apologised, saying heâs âsuper ashamedâ for comments he made about diverse casting in a resurfaced clip from 2016.
The video showed the writer and star of ABCâs TV comedy, âPlease Like Meâ, speaking at a panel discussion about writerâs rooms alongside fellow actors and writers, Dan Harmon (known for âCommunityâ and âRick and Mortyâ) and Australiaâs Celia Pacquola and Luke McGregor.
Writer, actor and activist Moreblessing Maturure shared a YouTube link to the panel discussion after Josh posted an image earlier in the week calling for Coon cheese to be renamed as he referred to âdisrespectâ for âBlack peopleâ.
âHas anyone told @JoshThomas87 that 44:00 onwards of this SOH âThe Writerâs Roomâ is infamous in many-a rooms/masterclasses? The short hand is âDonât be The Josh of the roomâ Anyway, âAus entertainment is Supremacistâ is barely a hot take, so xoxo,â she tweeted.
The clip in question featured Josh suggesting âimmigrants donât want to be actorsâ and that âfinding an experienced actor thatâs not white is really hardâ.
âSo in Australia.. this is going to sound racist,â he said, adding, âwell letâs find outâ.
âBecause weâve tried really hard for years now, right, and weâre really, weâre really, but I think most of the immigrants in Australia have come pretty recently, and generally, first or second-generation immigrants donât want to be actors. They have real jobs,â he continued.
Josh went on to say what he âfound quite confrontingâ when making a TV show is not knowing âyou have to pick every person.â
âłâJosh, what do you want the 7-11 worker to look like?â Do you make them Indian, or is that offensive? Or if you make them white, is it a bit like youâre lying, really? What do you do?â
âBut also, itâs taking a job away from an Indian actor if you donât,â responded Celia.
âWhat answer is not offensive?â asked Josh, at which point Luke interjected, âWeâre probably not going to come to the answer with this panel,â referring to the all-white line-up.
As Dan Harmon began speaking about Hollywoodâs efforts to make TV writers rooms more diverse, Josh interrupted, saying, âI feel like I just tried to say this and they thought it was racist, so I love that youâre doubling down on it...
âFinding people who have been given the same opportunities to be great at acting is really hard. None of the other shows are hiring people that arenât white.
âFinding an experienced actor thatâs not white is really hard. You find yourself in a situation where you want to be more diverse, but this person doesnât have as much experience as this person, and then itâs hard to know what to do, because you donât want to be favouring people when theyâre not going to do a good job.â
âIn the states, the answer is you have to look harder,â said Dan.
The video immediately generated reactions on social media.
âI remember hearing about this embarrassing shit while I was in my final audition for an ABC show (ironically the most diverse ensemble cast on Aus tv) which I ended up being in and NOT playing a 7/11 worker btw, wow brown ppl can play a spectrum of roles? Who woulda thought,â tweeted Indian-Australian actor Arka Das.
Underbelly actor Johnny Lahoud shared a screenshot of a Facebook post he wrote in 2016 after being an audience member at the panel event.
On Tuesday morning Josh shared an apology on Twitter, saying he was âbeing a really, dumb, illogical, insensitive idiot and itâs grossâ.
âIâm super ashamed of the comments I made, and would like to apologise.â
Joshâs full apology below.