Universal Pictures and the filmmakers behind the planned N.W.A biopic have released a statement regarding the offensive and racist casting information that was released Thursday.
The company said in a statement late Thursday that "the filmmakers … did not approve and do not condone the information in this casting notice. We regret and sincerely apologize for being in any way associated with the offensive descriptions it contained."
Sande Alessi Casting was responsible for Wednesday's posting of the open call, which placed women in four categories according to their skin color and hair.
"A girls" were described as "the hottest of the hottest" and was open to any ethnicity. "B girls" were to be "light-skinned," whereas "D girls" were "African American … Poor, not in good shape. Medium-to-dark skin tone."
On Thursday, Gawker posted the casting call, which was eventually removed from the company's Facebook page. In a statement to TMZ, Sande Alessi Casting said that the casting post was an "innocent mistake."
There's no word on whether or not Universal will continue to use Sande Alessi Casting, but after the controversy Thursday, you'd have to wonder if Sande Alessi received those exact requirements from the movie studio.
Yesha Callahan is editor of The Grapevine and a staff writer at The Root. Follow her on Twitter.
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