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2016 Winter TCA Tour - Day 9

Source: Frederick M. Brown / Getty

There has been a serious rift between Black Hollywood and the Black press lately, but “Get Out’s” Lil Rel Howery is putting his foot down and making sure that journalists of color will get his attention first.

His first stop? The MTV Movie and TV Awards.

The Los Angeles Times reported that the actor and comedian gave Black journalists and press “preferential treatment” on Saturday night’s red carpet.

“I want to start with the people who are actually supporting me, have supported me and will actually put the content out there,” he said in an interview with The Times on Friday talking about his upcoming movie “Uncle Ted.”

“Then, I’ll talk to everyone else, but that’s who I’m going to start with first.”

Howrey also told The Times that this topic came up at a recent National Association of Black Journalists panel in Los Angeles and it really stuck with him.

“Some of us Black stars forget what was sitting on that little table when we were growing up,” he told the Times, speaking about iconic pubs like Ebony, Essence and Jet.

“That was how we knew who was who, but we seem to have forgot that. I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I just want fairness.”

And folks, like myself, are grateful to him.

As The Times points out, Howrey’s stance comes at a time where Black journalists and film critics of color have been extremely vocal about not having the same access to Black celebrities compared to mainstream outlets with mostly writers and staff.

This conversation also exacerbated last week when USC released a study that found that most movie critics in the U.S. are white and male with white critics writing about 82 percent of all film reviews found on Rotten Tomatoes in 2017.

We can only hope that other Black celebs will follow Lil Rey’s lead, because the Black press and critics matters.

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Lil Rel Howery Stands Up For The Black Press At The MTV Movies And TV Awards  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com