Sony's disturbing remarks about Denzel Washington

It appears that the Sony email hacking scandal is getting worse with each passing day. Now, the subject of one of the most interesting email threads is actor Denzel Washington. According to a set of emails discovered by hackers, executives had concerns about keeping a black lead in major films, mainly because they aren’t able to do very well internationally. The email was allegedly directed toward one of the company’s executives, with the producer arguing that black people (i.e. Denzel) should not be chosen as leads in films that are expected to sell well overseas. The guy doesn’t seem to be racist (at least he’s trying very hard not to be), but claims that the company should give in to racist beliefs that others have about African American actors. “No, I am not saying The Equalizer should not have been made or that African American actors should not have been used (I personally think Denzel is the best actor of his generation),” the producer wrote, whose name has not been released. “Casting him is saying we’re ok with a double if the picture works,” the producer said (a double refers to baseball, rather than a homerun). “He’s reliable at the domestic [box office], safe, but has not had a huge success in years. I believe whenever possible the non event pictures, extra ‘bets’ should have a large inherent upside and be made for the right price. Here there isn’t a large inherent upside.”