Speaking at a Sundance panel on diverse storytelling, actor-producer Jesse Williams expressed optimism for inclusivity in Hollywood — while calling out a wave of “performative diversity.”

Williams, a Gray’s Anatomy veteran and activist, was asked about the state of diversity, equity and inclusion in Hollywood at an Adobe House panel on Expanding Perspectives – The Power of Diverse Storytelling. It took place as the Trump Administration rolls back DEI efforts.

Williams noted that while many Hollywood executives talked a good game about diversity during the Black Lives Matter protests inspired by the murder of George Floyd, many of the promised changes did not take hold. Over just a few weeks in 2023, four leaders in charge of prominent DEI efforts exited those roles.

Williams pointed to a trend of Black executives being starved of support, then blamed for not meeting their goals.

“I’ve seen two strains. I do see sincere progress,” he said. “I also saw the trap of performative diversity. We all remember the season of George Floyd, just to put it in a curt way. Where people did their black square and they created a role.”

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He likened the new roles to executives saying, “I’m not going to stop being racist. I need to hire someone and pay them a lot of money to police my racism to keep me from only hiring white men.”

He added: “They don’t know well enough to know whether they’re qualified, but it gives you a Black friend. Then they fail because you starve them to death.”

He imagined a white executive whining, “See? See? I tried!”

Williams is a producer of the Sundance doc Hoops, Hope, and Dreams). The panel, hosted by Adobe House. also included writer-actor-producer Dewayne Perkins, director, producer and showrunner Tracy Oliver, Stacy L. Smith the founder of the USC Annenberg Inclusion Initiative, and Sumi Parekh, the executive director of the Group Effort Initiative. 

Williams’ credits including served as an executive producer of the Academy Award-winning short, Two Distant Strangers (2020), directed by Trayvon Free, as well as the Tony Award-winning revival of Take Me Out. He was nominated for a Tony for his role in the latter.

Main image: Actor Jesse Williams arrives at Loudmouth at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival at BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center. Courtesy of Shutterstock