Universal pictures and the filmmakers behind the N.W.A. biopic, Straight Outta Compton, are distancing themselves from an offensive casting call that surfaced online this week.
Critics called the casting call that sought women for four categories racist. The casting call ranked women from A-D with “A girls” being the “hottest of the hottest” with real hair and any ethnicity. “D girls” were African-American and “poor and not in good shape. Medium to dark skin tone.”
Universal Pictures said in a statement late Thursday, “The filmmakers … did not approve and do not condone the information in this casting notice. We regret and sincerely apologize for being in any way associated with the offensive descriptions it contained.”
Sande Alessi Casting, the company that released the post has since taken it down from their Facebook page. A representative from the company says that the ad was an “innocent mistake.” They also said that in reference to casting “poor” people, they are looking for women of various skin tones and didn’t mean to offend anyone.
Universal has not revealed whether they will continue to work with the company but the Sande Alessi Casting website is still inviting men and women to audition as extras for the movie.
Straight Outta Compton is slated for an August 2015 release.
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