Seen On Twitter - "Why Can't There Be An All White Version Of The Wiz?"
'Why are there no whites?': The Wiz Live draws huge numbers for NBC with over 11million viewers despite hilarious confusion over the show's all-black cast
By Justin Enriquez For Dailymail.com
Published: 20:26 EST, 3 December 2015 | Updated: 13:22 EST, 4 December 2015
It was a highly anticipated live television moment that was lauded by critics when NBC aired a three-hour adaptation of the Broadway musical The Wiz on Thursday night.
The musical is based on The Wizard of Oz, the movie featuring all white characters that was adapted from the classic L. Frank Baum novel.
However, even though the 1975 show was written to feature an all-black cast - and the network stayed true to the script - social media erupted during the screening with calls of racism.
Several viewers took to Twitter to express their disdain about the event, accusing NBC of being discriminatory.
Despite the hilarious, and at times offensive, confusion of some, the show scored huge numbers for NBC, with 11.1million people tuning in for the television event.
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Groundbreaking: NBC aired a live musical special titled The Wiz Live on Thursday night featuring an all-black cast
One user tweeted to the major network: 'Minorities act like they're the victims, but can you imagine if we made an all-white version of The Wiz?'
Another user wrote: 'why are there no whites starring in #TheWiz? this is racist! can u imagine if it were the other way? #whitelivesmatter #TheWizLive.'
Additionally, a viewer posted: '#TheWiz on @NBC is a PC Disaster. An all-black Wizard of Oz? Give me a freaking break. I could say that's racist but...'
Others were more positive as one wrote: '@nbc it has been the other way before and we don't complain about all white casting, i.e the notebook, 500 days of summer..etc.'
NBC have not yet commented on the complaints.
It is most likely the complainants did not realize that The Wiz was written as a retelling of the classic story from an African-American context of The Wizard of Oz.
Penned by composer Charlie Smalls, the show won a Tony award and was adapted into a film in 1978 starring Michael Jackson, Dianna Ross and Richard Pryor.
The numbers for The Wiz far surpassed the 9.21million who watched last year's Peter Pan but fell short of the first live production of The Sound of Music in 2013, which drew 18.6million viewers.
The show even came close to beating Thursday's epic football game between the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions - an unheard of feat - but fell just short.
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your wish is my command dumbass
That one is awesome the black one kind of sucked.
I have to agree. The Wiz captured my attention for about 60 seconds. Five minutes later the channel got changed.
LMAO John
Poor white America...the disease of stupidity will be our undoing!/s
Perhaps in "rebuttal" the network should have aired The Wizard of Oz following The Wiz
This is actually a somewhat benign , I suppose, manifestation of "white privilege". When they see the Wizard of Oz they don't wonder why there are no racial minorities in it, that is the background effect of always being the norm.
" Perhaps in "rebuttal" the network should have aired The Wizard of Oz following The Wiz
"
I predict this response: WAIT - why did the black version get played FIRST! I'm so sick of black people getting top billing!
Hal,
Your killing me
Are we rearing a generation of morons?
Yep.
Dowser,
Of course we are. I assumed this was common knowledge. The agenda driven mission of dumbing down the American public into a bunch of brainless dolts has been in high gear for decades, and it's the only government program that actually works.
I would guess that Baum would be rolling over in his grave if an American Indian was cast in the Wiz.
Ten years prior to writing his celebrated tale about Dorothy, Toto, and the yellow brick road, Baum wrote several editorials for the Aberdeen Saturday Pioneer in Aberdeen, South Dakota, calling for the extermination of Native Americans:
“’The Pioneer’ has before declared that our only safety depends on the total extermination of the Indians. Having wronged them for centuries, we had better in order to protect our civilization followed up by one more wrong and wipe these untamed and untamable creatures from the face of the earth,” Baum wrote.
Oh my gosh, had no idea. That's enough to take the wind out of this seed! I'll never see the Wizard of Oz again without recalling your words...thanks for posting.
Native Americans should go Wiz on his grave
!
''Native Americans should go Wiz on his grave
!''.
Agreed Lynne.
Good one Lynne
A "news" article based on some random tweets? Someone need an outrage fix?
If anything, people should be pissed that they remade the Wiz, just because Hollywood is getting lazy?
Mike,
You do realize it was a play in 1975 and then made into a movie in 1978. I think Michael Jackson was in it.
Yes, that's why I think it was cheesy to re-make it. The original was a classic, so I would have left it alone. Some things are good enough by themselves, that it's shameful to re-make them and modernize them.
Like Gone With the Wind, or Casablanca. Can you imagine re-makes? It's sickening.
Of course, The Wiz isn't in that league, but as soon as I heard they we gonna re-make it, I thought it was a cheesy idea.
What can I say? I'm an elitist about some things, like classic cinema.
Next thing you know, they will re-make "Roots". It's just poor form.
OK so for the uniformed.
NBC for the last number of years has been remaking famous plays into live broadcasts for the holiday season.
Last year it was Peter Pan, and the year before was The sound of Music. This is just the next one in their family friendly holiday showings.