Daniel Dae Kim has seen highs and lows in his showbiz career so far, and these days, he’s worried about diversity, equity, and inclusion in the industry.
In a new Associated Press interview — timed to his starring role in the Prime Video thriller series Butterfly — the Lost alum fielded a question about backlash toward DEI in Hollywood.
“We’re already seeing it,” he replied. “If you look at what happened with Paramount and CBS News, we’re seeing a chilling effect on free speech and journalism and DEI.”
As Skydance Media and Paramount Global worked to get federal approval for its $8 billion merger, Paramount said it would pay Donald Trump $16 million to settle his 60 Minutes lawsuit — sparking internal and external controversy — and Skydance told the Federal Communications Commission that Paramount had eliminated DEI initiatives.
“‘DEI’ is a bad word these days, but to me, DEI’s not a fad,” Kim said. “The idea of inclusion is not something that’s a political trend. It’s my life. It’s what I’ve lived every decade I’ve been in this business.”
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Speaking of diversity, the former Hawaii Five-0 actor also discussed actors of color taking stereotypical roles to break into showbiz. “It’s much easier once you’re more successful and more established because you have more financial stability,” he said. “It’s something that, if you’re not a person of color, or someone who’s a minority in the United States, you don’t have to think about. You don’t think about what this role means for the rest of a nation or an ethnicity. You just do what you’re drawn to, and that’s very liberating. I am lucky enough now where I can also make those same choices. But I don’t ever escape the fact that whatever I do will be watched and seen by so many people and judged through their own lens and filters.”
Meanwhile, Kim is hoping to break into a certain genre: “I’m still waiting to play a romantic lead after all these years,” he said. “I’ve never gotten the opportunity and it’s one of those interesting things because I look the way I do as an Asian American and Asian men were never considered handsome or sexy. That’s changing now though.”
This story originally appeared on TV Insider
