Hot on the heels of her "slave" T-shirt controversy, Meryl Streep is under fire again. She's the jury president at the Berlin International Film Festival, which runs Feb. 11-21, and the seven-member jury is all white. Questioned about its makeup, Streep had an interesting response, the AP reports:
- Streep first pointed out that "at least women are included and in fact dominate this jury, and that's an unusual situation in bodies of people who make decisions. So I think the Berlinale is ahead of the game."
- An Egyptian reporter then asked if Streep could truly understand films from North Africa and Arab regions, and she admitted she doesn't know much about those regions but that "I've played a lot of different people from a lot of different cultures."
- And then came the kicker from Streep: "There is a core of humanity that travels right through every culture, and after all we're all from Africa originally. Berliners, we're all Africans really."
Though it's definitely being reported as a serious statement, some hoped otherwise ("I'm thinking maybe Meryl Streep might have been going for sarcasm with this," reads one
tweet) and others support her: "those who don't get Meryl Streep's comment on diversity ... are braindead," says another
tweet. "She's saying we're spun from same cloth." (More
Meryl Streep stories.)
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