Whitewashing is an issue that has been seen in Hollywood for many years. Many celebrities have openly addressed the issue and spoken against it while many also faced severe criticism from the audiences. Emma Stone is also a major name who falls under this list and has also addressed how it was a big lesson for her. 

Emma Stone

Emma Stone met with intense fuss when she was cast in Cameron Crowe’s Aloha. The actress’ casting in the role of a woman of Hawaiian and Asian origin witnessed a huge crowd calling out the makers for whitewashing. The whole mess even led the Gwen Stacy fame and the makers of the movie to come out and publicly address it. 

What did Emma Stone say on Hollywood’s whitewashing issue?

Emma Stone in Aloha (2015)

Aloha directed by Cameron Crowe was released in 2015 with a huge star cast. The romantic comedy has an ensemble cast of Bradley Cooper, Emma Stone, Rachel McAdams, Bill Murray, John Krasinski, and Alec Baldwin. But even so many major names couldn’t save the movie from crashing hard. 

It was a gargantuan box office flop and also failed to leave any impression critically. One of the major issues faced by the movie was the public disappointment over The Amazing Spider-Man actress’ casting. Stone admitted in an interview with an Australian news site that she realized how whitewashing is truly a notable problem in recent times.
“I’ve become the b-tt of many jokes. I’ve learned on a macro level about the insane history of whitewashing in Hollywood and how prevalent the problem truly is. It’s ignited a conversation that’s very important.”

Emma Stone and Bradley Cooper in the movie

But Emma Stone didn’t stop there and also went on to add something to the defense of her character. She played the role of Allison Ng in the movie and according to her, Allison was never supposed to look like her background. 
“The character was not supposed to look like her background which was a quarter Hawaiian and a quarter Chinese.”
However, the movie only grossed $26.3 million and turned out to be an epic box office bomb. On the other hand, Cameron Crowe also had to say a lot about the 2015 movie and gave a statement similar to that of Emma Stone addressing both the positive and negative aspects of Aloha. 

What did Cameron Crowe say in apology?

Cameron Crowe with Emma Stone

Cameron Crowe also took to his blog to clear up everything about the casting of Emma Stone in Aloha. The director made sure to make an official apology for the character of Allison Ng and Crowe stated:
“Thank you so much for all the impassioned comments regarding the casting of the wonderful Emma Stone in the part of Allison Ng. I have heard your words and your disappointment, and I offer you a heartfelt apology to all who felt this was an odd or misguided casting choice.”
The Jerry Maguire mastermind took the entire responsibility on himself. However, Cameron Crowe also added that despite the casting, there were many Asian-American and Native Hawaiian people involved in the crew.

According to the Oscar-winning filmmaker, he was extremely proud of the locals who worked in the crew for the filming of the Emma Stone rom-com flick. Cameron Crowe addressed that the involvement of the locals in the crew helped him to maintain the authenticity in Aloha. 

Aloha can be rented on Apple TV+.

Source: The Guardian