Tyrese Gibson Speaks on Experiencing Colorism in Hollywood; Says Terrence Howard Has Been Chosen for Roles Over Him Because of His Complexion

Tyrese Gibson speaks out about how colorism affects the opportunities dark-skinned actors get versus light-skinned actors.

Colorism is a vertical of white supremacy that plagues the Black community and all communities of color. Colorism, the prejudice or discrimination against people of a darker complexion, can directly impact darker-skinned people’s opportunities, resources, and lifestyle. People of the same ethnicity and race can also perpetuate colorism amongst one another.

Colorism is has been used throughout history to break down communities of color, and Gibson says he’s experienced that first-hand in Hollywood.

“Terrence Howard has no idea how many roles that I was about to book, and they went with him because he’s the lighter-skinned black man with the green eyes,” said Gibson. “It’s crazy to me, like, I’m No. 1. I’m the star. I’m this blue-black, you know, all of the things that I was laughed about in the ‘hood.”

Gibson went on: “And then you look at Lupita [Nyong’o] and the Viola Davises of the world, and there is this kind of, this shift that has happened. I think we should all stay humble because it’s interesting how white people created this kind of colorism. The mixed-race gets to be in the house, and the black blacks get to work in the hot sun and pick cotton.”

He added that he also experienced colorism as a child growing up.

“Throughout my whole childhood, it was not cool to be dark skin in the hood. It was always the light-skinned black people that seemed to have gotten all the attention and all the love and considered pretty, or attractive, or handsome,” he said. “And since I’ve been in Hollywood, we dealt with the same thing.”