Aziz Ansari's new show is amazing. But the stories he's sharing to promote it are just as good.

All jokes aside, he's doing what he can to make Hollywood a more diverse place.

 Parker Molloy
11.12.15

Currently out promoting his new Netflix show, "Master of None," Aziz Ansari is sharing some tough truths about diversity.

The show (which everyone needs to spend this weekend binge-watching, OK?) follows Dev, a 30-year-old actor played by Ansari. The show touches on issues of race, gender, sexuality, and the very human element of unconscious bias that plays into everyday life.

One of those topics, diversity in Hollywood, hits really close to home for Ansari, and he's using this promotional tour to share what he's observed. Ansari recently penned a piece for The New York Times in which he talked about what it meant to him as a kid to feel represented by characters on TV and in film and why it's important to have diverse entertainment.

Ansari's observations are spot-on. Hollywood isn't just white. It's disproportionately white.

During the 2012-2013 TV season, racial minorities made up just 6.5% of lead roles. That's pretty white. That's really white. That's unrealistically, disproportionately white; racial minorities make up nearly 40% of the U.S. population.

But what's the big deal, right? If minorities want roles, why don't they start their own shows, movies, and whatnot? Want more diversity? Make it more diverse! Right?

Well, as Ansari points out, it's way more complicated than that.

"I wouldn't be in the position to do any of this, and neither would ['Master of None' co-creator] Alan [Yang], unless some straight white guy, in this case Mike Schur, had given us jobs on 'Parks and Recreation,'" writes Ansari in his New York Times article. "Without that opportunity, we wouldn't have developed the experience necessary to tell our stories. So if you're a straight white guy, do the industry a solid, and give minorities a second look."

Ansari also stopped by "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," where he poked fun at the sad state of diversity in late-night talk shows.

Sitting next to Colbert, Ansari joked that while he was on camera, the show was 50% diverse (a victory!). "You are the first late-night host from South Carolina," he congratulated Colbert. "And the bajillionth white guy."

There's no shortage of articles and videos and posts on social media criticizing late night for being so devoid of people of color (especially women of color). Check out W. Kamau Bell's "The Unbearable Whiteness of Late Night" or Vox's statistic-heavy look at the topic for a more thorough breakdown on what's up.

But maybe the best look at late night's lack of diversity is this image from a Vanity Fair article about the "titans of late-night television."As it turns out, late-night TV is home to more people named James (looking at you, Fallon, Kimmel, and Corden) than people of color (or women).


But why should we want more diversity? Believe it or not, it can actually make you a better person.

Studies have found that when people see representation of a group they belong to on TV or in the movies, it affects how they view themselves.

Additionally, kids should grow up seeing themselves reflected in a variety of characters because data shows that it's good not just for them but for all kids to understand that skin color is not associated with any one type of character.

So yes, even white people benefit from increased diversity. True story!

As more and more people acknowledge that more racial diversity would benefit Hollywood, what can we do?

It's easy to feel pretty powerless in these situations, right? I'm not a TV executive. Odds are you're not a TV executive (unless you are, in which — bam! — you know what to do here). We don't make casting decisions, so what can we do to help?

The truth is that audiences want and have been asking for more diversity. So what more can you do? Support filmmakers who are people of color, boost their voices on social media, or if you happen to be unbelievably wealthy like George Lucas, fund programs to boost diversity in Hollywood. Really, just do anything but brush off the concerns of folks like Ansari.

Catch Aziz Ansari's diversity-enriching appearance on "The Late Show" below.

race diversity the late show aziz ansari stephen colbert hollywood characters tv television minorities racial minorities
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Florida city forecloses on man's home after fining him $30,000 for not mowing his lawn.

Youtube

Should a man lose his home because the grass in his yard grew higher than 10 inches? The city of Dunedin, Florida seems to think so.

According to the Institute of Justice, which is representing Jim Ficken, he had a very good reason for not mowing his lawn – and tried to rectify the situation as best he could.

In 2014, Jim's mom became ill and he visited her often in South Carolina to help her out. When he was away, his grass grew too long and he was cited by a code office; he cut the grass and wasn't fined.

France has started forcing supermarkets to donate food instead of throwing it away.

But several years later, this one infraction would come back to haunt him after he left to take care of him's mom's affairs after she died. The arrangements he made to have his grass cut fell through (his friend who he asked to help him out passed away unexpectedly) and that set off a chain reaction that may result in him losing his home.

The 69-year-old retiree now faces a $29,833.50 fine plus interest. Watch the video to find out just what Jim is having to deal with.

Mow Your Lawn or Lose Your House! www.youtube.com

florida dunedin lawn mowing jim ficken
Cities

Michelle Obama named 'most admired woman in the world,' because of course she is.

The world can't get enough Michelle.

Jimmy Kimmel Live/YouTube

The world officially loves Michelle Obama.

The former first lady has overtaken the number one spot in a poll of the world's most admired women. Conducted by online research firm YouGov, the study uses international polling tools to survey people in countries around the world about who they most admire.

In the men's category, Bill Gates took the top spot, followed by Barack Obama and Jackie Chan.

In the women's category, Michelle Obama came first, followed by Oprah Winfrey and Angelina Jolie. Obama pushed Jolie out of the number one spot she claimed last year.

Unsurprising, really, because what's not to love about Michelle Obama? She is smart, kind, funny, accomplished, a great dancer, a devoted wife and mother, and an all-around, genuinely good person.

She has remained dignified and strong in the face of rabid masses of so-called Americans who spent eight years and beyond insisting that she's a man disguised as a woman. She's endured non-stop racist memes and terrifying threats to her family. She has received far more than her fair share of cruelty, and always takes the high road. She's the one who coined, "When they go low, we go high," after all.

She came from humble beginnings and remains down to earth despite becoming a familiar face around the world. She's not much older than me, but I still want to be like Michelle Obama when I grow up.

Her memoir, Becoming, may end up being the best-selling memoir of all time, having already sold 10 million copies—a clear sign that people can't get enough Michelle, because there's no such thing as too much Michelle.

Don't like Michelle Obama? Don't care. Those of us who love her will fly our MO flags high and without apology, paying no mind to folks with cold, dead hearts who don't know a gem of a human being when they see one. There is nothing any hater can say or do to make us admire this undeniably admirable woman any less.

When it seems like the world has lost its mind—which is how it feels most days these days—I'm just going to keep coming back to this study as evidence that hope for humanity is not lost.

Here. Enjoy some real-life Michelle on Jimmy Kimmel. (GAH. WHY IS SHE SO CUTE AND AWESOME. I can't even handle it.)

Michelle & Barack Obama are Boring Now www.youtube.com

michelle obama michelle obama birthday obama barack obama
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France has started forcing supermarkets to donate food instead of throwing it away.

via EarthFix / Flickr

What will future generations never believe that we tolerated in 2019?

Dolphin and orca captivity, for sure. They'll probably shake their heads at how people died because they couldn't afford healthcare. And, they'll be completely mystified at the amount of food some people waste while others go starving.

According to Biological Diversity, "An estimated 40 percent of the food produced in the United States is wasted every year, costing households, businesses and farms about $218 billion annually."

There are so many things wrong with this.

First of all it's a waste of money for the households who throw out good food. Second, it's a waste of all of the resources that went into growing the food, including the animals who gave their lives for the meal. Third, there's something very wrong with throwing out food when one in eight Americans struggle with hunger.

Supermarkets are just as guilty of this unnecessary waste as consumers. About 10% of all food waste are supermarket products thrown out before they've reached their expiration date.

Three years ago, France took big steps to combat food waste by making a law that bans grocery stores from throwing away edible food.According to the new ordinance, stores can be fined for up to $4,500 for each infraction.

Previously, the French threw out 7.1 million tons of food. Sixty-seven percent of which was tossed by consumers, 15% by restaurants, and 11% by grocery stores.

This has created a network of over 5,000 charities that accept the food from supermarkets and donate them to charity. The law also struck down agreements between supermarkets and manufacturers that prohibited the stores from donating food to charities.

"There was one food manufacturer that was not authorized to donate the sandwiches it made for a particular supermarket brand. But now, we get 30,000 sandwiches a month from them — sandwiches that used to be thrown away," Jacques Bailet, head of the French network of food banks known as Banques Alimentaires, told NPR.

It's expected that similar laws may spread through Europe, but people are a lot less confident at it happening in the United States. The USDA believes that the biggest barrier to such a program would be cost to the charities and or supermarkets.

"The logistics of getting safe, wholesome, edible food from anywhere to people that can use it is really difficult," the organization said according to Gizmodo. "If you're having to set up a really expensive system to recover marginal amounts of food, that's not good for anybody."

Plus, the idea may seem a little too "socialist" for the average American's appetite.

"The French version is quite socialist, but I would say in a great way because you're providing a way where they [supermarkets] have to do the beneficial things not only for the environment, but from an ethical standpoint of getting healthy food to those who need it and minimizing some of the harmful greenhouse gas emissions that come when food ends up in a landfill," Jonathan Bloom, the author of American Wasteland, told NPR.

However, just because something may be socialist doesn't mean it's wrong. The greater wrong is the insane waste of money, damage to the environment, and devastation caused by hunger that can easily be avoided.

Planet

Single dad asks his daughters for fashion advice before a date and strangers on social media responded with some helpful suggestions.

The world is dark and full of terrors, but every once in a while it graces us with something to warm our icy-cold hearts. And that is what we have today, with a single dad who went viral on Twitter after his daughter posted the photos he sent her when trying to pick out and outfit for his date. You love to see it.




After seeing these heartwarming pics, people on Twitter started suggesting this adorable man date their moms. It was essentially a mom and date matchmaking frenzy.

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